A Highlevel overview of the Software Development LifeCycle

The Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is basically the roadmap for building software—from idea to launch and beyond. Here’s how it usually goes:

  1. Planning – What are we building, why, and how? This phase sets the foundation.
  2. Requirements Gathering – Talking to users, stakeholders, and teams to figure out what the software actually needs to do.
  3. Design – Mapping out how the system will work, including UI/UX and architecture.
  4. Development – The coding phase where developers bring ideas to life.
  5. Testing – Catching and fixing bugs before release to ensure everything runs smoothly.
  6. Deployment – Launching the software so people can start using it.
  7. Maintenance & Updates – Keeping the software running, fixing issues, and adding improvements over time.

There are different ways to approach SDLC, like Waterfall (step-by-step) or Agile (iterative and flexible). The goal? To build software that actually works well and meets users’ needs.