Saturday, January 22, 2005

Large Projects and the SDLC


This is a good example where Software Development Life Cycles (SDLC) is appropriate and needed. A very large project, being done over a very long time where lots of money, people and resources are required is a when the SDLC should be used.

However the larger the project it can be frustrating manage and coordinate. The more people added to the mix the more personality collide and defenders of territory come into play. SDLC would help guide the project, but it does create an unavoidable human element of frustration with other groups, areas, vendors, consultants or departments.

This is not a project that I would recommend go without some type of SDLC process.

CYA: If a formal SDLC is not in place, the initial formation of a SDLC could meet resistance from the existing management structure and org chart. The initial formation can be stifled by politics and personal agendas. After it is established and everyone understand the process then Ray is correct. It aids in damping the effects of politics.

This is a good concept for vendor to customer relationship and maybe in some business organizations, however this will not work in all cases. Every large company has different polices and procedures. It is more difficult to be creative and to correct a known customer requested design flaw with this method. It also greatly extents the development cycle which is why SAP, Peoplesoft and other very large deployments take so long.

The level of detail and interpretation between the customer and vendor can be annoying. The steps of clarification by phases so the customer knows exactly what they got matches what they asked for can take time. That is not a billable process in some cases.

However it is a good tool to keep things in check. It is good where it is appropriate.

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