Software Development Workflows
Q1. Workflows in Software Development
The term workflow refers to a sequence of related activities in a process. In software development, workflows are linked to product artifacts and project phases. There are seven primary workflows:
- Management Workflow: Overseeing the process and ensuring success for all stakeholders.
- Environment Workflow: Automating the process and maintaining the development environment.
- Requirements Workflow: Analyzing the problem and defining the requirements.
- Design Workflow: Creating the solution and developing the architecture and design.
- Implementation Workflow: Building the components and managing the implementation and deployment.
- Assessment Workflow: Evaluating process and product quality trends.
- Deployment Workflow: Delivering the final product to the user.
These workflows often overlap and iterate throughout the development lifecycle. Key principles related to these workflows include:
Architecture-First Approach
Prioritizing requirements analysis, design, implementation, and assessment before full-scale development ensures a solid foundation. This early focus on the architecture is crucial for successful development.
Iterative Life-Cycle Process
Each phase may involve multiple iterations of the workflows. This allows for flexibility and refinement throughout the project.
Round-Trip Engineering
Treating environment activities as a primary workflow emphasizes the importance of the development environment and its impact on the process.
Demonstration-Based Approach
Early implementation and assessment activities enable the creation of executable prototypes, allowing for continuous feedback and validation.
Q2. Iterative Workflows
An iteration is a set of activities performed in a specific order, varying depending on the development phase. Each iteration focuses on a set of usage scenarios. The workflow within an iteration typically includes:
- Management: Planning the iteration, defining the release content, and assigning tasks.
- Environment: Updating the development environment to reflect changes in baselines and components.
- Requirements: Analyzing the plan, architecture, and requirements to elaborate use cases and evaluation criteria.
- Design: Refining the architecture and design to support the iteration’s goals.
- Implementation: Developing, acquiring, and integrating components to meet the evaluation criteria.
- Assessment: Evaluating the iteration’s results, including compliance with criteria and quality of baselines.
- Deployment: Transitioning the release to users or conducting a post-mortem analysis for future improvements.
Q3. Joint Management Reviews
Major milestones in the development lifecycle serve as checkpoints for stakeholder alignment. Different stakeholders have unique perspectives:
- Customers: Focus on schedule, budget, feasibility, risk, requirements, progress, and product compatibility.
- Users: Concerned with consistency with requirements, usability, potential for growth, and quality.
- Architects and Systems Engineers: Emphasize product compatibility, requirements changes, trade-offs, completeness, consistency, and balance between risk, quality, and usability.
- Developers: Focus on requirements detail, usage scenarios, component selection, risk resolution, product compatibility, and the development environment.
- Maintainers: Concerned with product and documentation quality, understandability, interoperability, and the maintenance environment.
- Others: May include regulatory agencies, contractors, investors, and sales and marketing teams, each with their own perspectives.
Joint management reviews provide a platform for these stakeholders to discuss progress, address concerns, and ensure alignment throughout the project.