Is Waterfall methodology the right process for your software development?

As a matter of fact, software production is the very first step to every project’s succession. It highlights the skills level of the development team. Also, to bring along the value of a solution company in demonstrating their professionalism in information technology (IT) industry.

What makes a great process? Is it a precise procedure, a careful explanation or a strict regulation that goes along?

There shouldn’t be just one answer to this question. In fact, every phase of the production process requires a complete obligation of every team member. One lack of responsibility could result in project’s failure.

In this writing, we’re discussing the Waterfall model, one of the traditional software production methodology. At the end of this reading, we hope to help you understand the most well-known methodology in software development

Requirement Analysis

Said by its name, every process starts by understanding client’s requirements, the need to accomplish in order to draft a technical documentation containing requirements specifications and technical solutions in a clear and concise way. For most projects, they are a set of lists of itemized features, diagrams depicting the way the software will work. This is the point at which the client and development team come to an agreement about the final product.

Project Planning

The development team will prepare a breakdown structure and effort estimation, software design per client’s request. During this process, an customized solution for client is created along with risks management to ensure both sides are aware of any arise situation.

Software Development

This is the phase where the execution of the project is done. All the coding and integrations are carefully inserted according to the software requirements specifications. The software development team is responsible to follow the approved plan to produce the software using selected tools and technologies.

Quality Assurance

Upon completion, the finished software is thoroughly tested using applicable test cases. These test cases are generated against functional specifications for the purpose of bug tracking and to ensure the software meets business’s goals. Hence, the final outcome is to make sure that every issue is properly addressed and the software is ready for client’s validation.

Validation

Validation is the process of making sure that the solution is constructed correctly and according to the requirement. Usually when the project reaches a stage where a complete application is deployed under production environment, client is invited to access the complete application for final improvement. The team will then transfer product knowledge to a person in charge of the client. Any change request shall be recorded and discussed alongside. The validation period could last from days to weeks depends on the complexities of the project.

Deployment

Depends on how the client want their deliveries after validation is completed. This stage allow both sides to see the final result of the software in live environment manually or by an automated system. It might engage end-users testing of a specific application on target device, for instance. The deployment could happen several times during the process until all errors are found and corrected.

Warranty & Maintenance Contract

Some companies including us also offer services, as a separate contract, for the on-going support and maintenance of the project. Duration varies depend on the Maintenance plan. This area includes concepts, methods, processes and techniques that support the ability of an Internet Platform to change, evolve, and adapt as part of the maintenance services.

Final Thought

Waterfall is still relevant nowadays, as long as your company goal is to follow a clear picture of a final product. All in all, companies investing their time to build a sustainable production process are most likely to be considered by their target clients, no matter of methodologies.

The right process creates an essential flow in cooperation between management and development team from coding to project handling and delivery. Therefore, having a higher chance of success resulted from a concrete process differ the company with their competitors, serving the same purpose.