Matt Davies Stockton Discusses Vital Stages of Application Software Development

Introduction

According to Matt Davies Stockton, software development processes have their own life cycles and frameworks. There are multiple processes that occur during a software development project. Most software development projects go through stages with well-segregated methodology. Let’s check them out. 

The Stages

1. Analysis of requirements – Before a general idea for any software is put on the table, a dedicated team needs to gather the business requirements and analyze them thoroughly to come up with an idea for the software. At this stage, project managers are trying to figure out the purpose of the software and the exact things that it needs to do. 

This stage helps to figure out the target audience of the software, its use, the type of data that needs to be added to the software, and the expected outcomes. Once a general outline is created for the software developers, they can move on to the next stage. 

2. Design – The requirements produced in the first stage are used to draft the design for the software. At this stage, the design helps to specify both the system requirements and the hardware needed for the project. It also defines the overall system of the software architecture. The design specifications drafted during this stage are used as input for the next stage of development. 

3. Implementation and testing – After the design documentation is produced, project managers can divide it into modules and variables to be allocated to different teams. The actual coding begins at this stage with the main focus on developing efficient codes. Usually, this is the longest phase in any software development cycle. 

After the code is developed and implemented, it is thoroughly tested. Testing is crucial during any software development cycle since it helps to identify errors in the code. When errors and complexities are identified, the coding phase is repeated to iron out the errors and this process of coding and testing may be repeated several times till the code is acceptable. 

4. Deployment and maintenance – After all the errors or most of them are removed and patched, the finalized code is implemented in the software and delivered to the customers. At this point, the code is in the beta testing phase where the software is made available to a large pool of users. 

This is done to identify more bugs and improve the software with feedback from the users. Once that’s done, the final deployment of the software is done. When customers start using the software after the final deployment, more issues may occur from time to time. Those issues are reported to the team of engineers and developers to be rectified and fixed with a patch or in the next iteration.  

Conclusion

Matt Davies Stockton suggests that you assess the models of software development and choose one that best suits your needs. While sticking to an old and highly tested method like waterfall processes comes with obvious benefits, newer and more innovative iterative processes allow you to be more flexible and cut down on costs in the long term.