Comparing and Contrasting SDLC and Agile

Comparing and Contrasting SDLC and Agile

Background

Software Development Life Cycle

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a structured approach to building and maintaining software systems for organizations (Sekgweleo, 2019). The traditional SDLC was borrowed from the assembly line innovations of the Henry Ford waterfall manufacturing process. SDLC was invented around 1960 to create structure and organization for large-scale business systems during that time (Pham et al., 2021). It ensured there were clear specifications to follow, hence enforcing discipline in software development. Before any coding started, a lot of documentation was required, and the documents were very detailed, including the overall strategy, functional requirements, and user interface designs. The application systems during that time were rigid and complex and needed clear outcomes to be developed hence software teams started adopting SDLC. A factor that made it a success is that the requirements changed at a slower rate as compared to today hence making it less problematic. Due to its rigidity, SDLC became less popular as there was no need for flexibility and the speed of the processes.

SDLC phases include requirement gathering, where all software requirements are collected upfront; detailed analysis of requirements; design of the overall structure; implementation stage for writing the overall code; testing to ensure the software meets the specified requirements; deployment to the production environment, which is done after passing all the tests; and, finally, the last phase is ongoing maintenance and support to address any issues. Some of the models based on SDLC are the waterfall model, spiral model, v-mode, and incremental model (Leau et al., 2022).

Agile

Agile refers to processes that are based on iterative software development that prioritizes cross-functional collaboration and continuous improvement. The history of Agile methodologies for software development can be traced back to the early 2000s. It emerged as a response to the frustrations and limitations of the heavyweight traditional SDLC. Agile was launched by a group of 17 practitioners led by Kent Beck in 2001, which they referred to as the “Agile manifesto” (Merzouk et al., 2018). It defined the four major principles of Agile project management: individuals and interaction over processes and tools, working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and responding to change over following a plan (Hohl et al., 2018). This manifesto marked a significant shift in software development practices. Agile has continued to evolve and adapt to changing business needs and emerging trends.

In Agile, the phases start with iteration planning, where projects are broken down into sprints that take a period of four weeks. In this phase, user stories are selected for each sprint based on the priorities and capacity of the team. The execution phase follows, and the development team implements the selected user stories. At the end of each sprint, a review is done, and all stakeholders are given room to provide feedback to ensure the software meets the requirements. After the review, a retrospective is done so as to identify areas for improvement (Leau et al., 2022). The team does a continuous backlog refinement to re-prioritize items based on the changing requirements and feedback. Some of the models based on Agile are Scrum, Extreme Programming, Dynamic Systems Development Method, Feature Driven Method, and Adaptive software development.

Similarities

Agile and SDLC are two different approaches to software development, each with its own processes and phases. However, there are some similarities between the two methodologies in terms of their processes to develop software. At the beginning of the software development process, both SDLC and Agile have planning where the project scope and goal of the project are defined. Both also have a development phase, a key phase that usually involves writing code and building the software product. In both methodologies, testing such as unit testing, system integration testing, and user acceptance testing is done at different stages of the software development process. The reason is to ensure the required market standards for the product are met. Deployment is done in both to ensure the software is delivered to the end users in a production environment. Documentation is critical in both methodologies to keep a record of requirements, design decisions, and testing results. However, documentation in Agile is not as extensive as in SDLC (Moniruzzaman & Hossain, 2019).

Contrast

SDLC and Agile approaches to the software development process differ across various aspects. In terms of delivering the project, SDLC implements each phase sequentially with the aim of delivering the project at the end of the lifecycle. The software is delivered when fully complete. On the other hand, Agile delivers the product in an iterative and incremental manner over a short period of time. Through this, there is a faster time-to-market and early feedback. Further, customer involvement in Agile is higher than in SDLC. In SDLC, it occurs more during the requirement-gathering phase and less frequently throughout the development phase. Also, there is more reliance on the project manager rather than the customer in SDLC. Agile emphasizes close collaboration and continuous feedback from customers and all stakeholders during the entire development process. This helps to shape the outcome of the final software.

In terms of flexibility and response to requirement changes, Agile is highly adaptable and flexible in response to change rather than following a rigid plan. The execution is done in sprints of short cycles with continuous feedback, which gives room to changing requirements. SDLC follows a plan that makes it less flexible to changing requirements; thus, implementing a change is costly and time-consuming. Requirements in SDLC are defined in detail during the gathering and planning phase before development begins. In Agile, the requirements are refined throughout the project.

In Agile working software is preferred over comprehensive documentation even though required documents are produced as needed. SDLC documentation is extensive for each phase. Team sizes in Agile are smaller and medium. Conversely, team sizes in SDLC are larger, each with defined roles and responsibilities. The specific project requirements will guide whether one chooses SDLC or Agile. For smaller or medium projects with evolving requirements and early user feedback required, Agile would be more suitable. For larger projects whose requirements are well-defined, SDLC would be suitable.

Agile and SDLC in Businesses Today

Agile is increasingly being used in today’s business landscape compared to SDLC due to its flexibility and adaptability to changes throughout the software development process. A report indicates that 71% of companies use Agile in their software development process (VersionOne Enterprise, 2023). In terms of the teams adapting Agile, the information technology followed by the software development team is leading, while the least teams adapting Agile are the sales and accounting teams. According to the report, larger organizations tend to use a hybrid model, while smaller and medium-sized use the Agile model.

References

Hohl, P., Klünder, J., van Bennekum, A., Lockard, R., Gifford, J., Münch, J., Stupperich, M., & Schneider, K. (2018). Back to the future: Origins and directions of the “Agile Manifesto” – views of the originators. Journal of Software Engineering Research and Development, 6(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40411-018-0059-z

Leau, Y., Loo, W. K., Tham, W. Y., & Tan, S. F. (2022). Software development life cycle Agile vs traditional approaches. 37(Icint), 162–167.

Merzouk, S., Elhadi, S., Cherkaoui, A., Marzak, A., & Sael, N. (2018). Agile software development: Comparative study. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3186323

Moniruzzaman, A. B. M., & Hossain, D. S. A. (2019). Comparative study on Agile software development methodologies. http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.3356

Pham, L.-H. T., Desai-Naik, T., Hammond, L., & Abdeljabbar, W. (2021). Information systems for business (Revised 1st Edition, 2021). ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative (OERI). https://libretexts.org

Sekgweleo, T. (2019). Comparing Agile and traditional system development methodologies. International Journal of Innovative Research and Advanced Studies (IJIRAS), 6(5), 174–179. www.ijiras.com

VersionOne Enterprise. (2023). The 17th state of Agile report. 17, 26. https://bit.ly/

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Systems Analysis (CISC-2201)
Please choose one topic from the 3 topics below.
1- Compare and contrast SDLC vs. Agile, including the history of each and how each is used in business today.
2- Research an ERP product, explain its functionality, and provide an example of a company using that product.

Comparing and Contrasting SDLC and Agile

3- Examine the literature on Joint Application Design (JAD). Summarize the process and then answer how JAD can be used to help determine system requirements of a “state of the art” implementation of a system. (You pick the implementation).