subject: Software Development Plan [print this page] Software Development Plan Software Development Plan
A software development plan is the systematic structure used to denote how the software that needs to be developed will come about. Though life cycle is a generic term, software development plan specifies the real motto. Software today is being used for various reasons like for clients, businesses or for your own personal use.
Software development strategies fall under many different names - spiral, waterfall, agile, XP, rapid prototyping to name but a few. The common goal of all these strategies or software development plans are to develop a piece of software.
In simple terms a software development plan outlines and specifies what needs to be done, what the specifications and requirements are and broadly how it will happen. A software development plan covers software architecture, functionality, implementation specifics and testing of the software.
The oldest, and one of the most common software development plans, is the classic waterfall model. Thissoftware development plan is an iterative process that can move backward and forward through steps until the end result is up to scratch. More complex system take more time, but even the largest development can be simplified to simple steps.
Other information that is contained in a software development plan can be security, physically construction, hardware and any other relevant factors.
The last step of the software development plan is highly important yet often ignored. Updating and tracking of any bugs in the system. For organizations like the Military and Government Organizations this is of utmost importance.
Software development planning can also take place on existing software that needs to be modified or extended, in which case agile methodology is a common software development plan of choice. A combination of software development plans can be used to develop a hybrid solution.
Documentation plays a major role as it is created parallel to the software development. Once ready and tested, the software can be sold with rights.
