The waterfall methodology is a framework used in software development where phases are established sequentially to make up the whole process. It follows a very detailed system or model that clearly defines what each phase hopes to achieve, how it may impact the whole design and development of the software product and when the whole process can be completed.
The waterfall methodology dates back to the 1970s, when the hardware-oriented process used by the manufacturing and construction industries. Since the other business industries have seen how effective the system was at saving money and addressing possible problems, the software sector saw fit to adapt the system to their own wants and needs.
The waterfall methodology's phases are explained, as follows:
Requirements analysis. In this phase, the needs of the clients are identified, as well as the problems that the software product will fix for them. The team would make use of customer interviews and use cases for this phase.
Design. During this phase, the architecture of the product (hardware and software) are established, along with the parameters for security and performance, storage constraints for data, programming language and the IDE, and others. The user interface that will be used in sorted out in this phase, too.
Implementation. This is where the actual building of the product is started, where specifications and requirements are followed. Division of labor between the different roles in the team such as programmer, compilers, debuggers, interface designers and others is instrumental to the phase, too.
Testing. During testing, every component of the product as well as the complete whole is subjected to rigorous testing to ensure that everything is functioning perfectly, and clients would be appeased. A Quality Assurance team takes care of Testing.
Installation. The clients get the software product during this phase. Sending the product through the Internet or physical media is usually how the product is released to the customers.
Maintenance. Maintenance takes care of the modifications and changes that must be done to the product, if clients found that live use of the software product came with some errors and bugs that have to be fixed soon. Also, every time an issue is fixed, a new version or release of the product would be sent to the clients.
Since every organization is different, the structure is different, etc. the needs are different as well. For some organizations, other methodologies of software development might work better. Agile is one of those that many organizations are adopting right now. Do your research, consult others who have experience with these and do the right thing.
The waterfall methodology dates back to the 1970s, when the hardware-oriented process used by the manufacturing and construction industries. Since the other business industries have seen how effective the system was at saving money and addressing possible problems, the software sector saw fit to adapt the system to their own wants and needs.
The waterfall methodology's phases are explained, as follows:
Requirements analysis. In this phase, the needs of the clients are identified, as well as the problems that the software product will fix for them. The team would make use of customer interviews and use cases for this phase.
Design. During this phase, the architecture of the product (hardware and software) are established, along with the parameters for security and performance, storage constraints for data, programming language and the IDE, and others. The user interface that will be used in sorted out in this phase, too.
Implementation. This is where the actual building of the product is started, where specifications and requirements are followed. Division of labor between the different roles in the team such as programmer, compilers, debuggers, interface designers and others is instrumental to the phase, too.
Testing. During testing, every component of the product as well as the complete whole is subjected to rigorous testing to ensure that everything is functioning perfectly, and clients would be appeased. A Quality Assurance team takes care of Testing.
Installation. The clients get the software product during this phase. Sending the product through the Internet or physical media is usually how the product is released to the customers.
Maintenance. Maintenance takes care of the modifications and changes that must be done to the product, if clients found that live use of the software product came with some errors and bugs that have to be fixed soon. Also, every time an issue is fixed, a new version or release of the product would be sent to the clients.
Since every organization is different, the structure is different, etc. the needs are different as well. For some organizations, other methodologies of software development might work better. Agile is one of those that many organizations are adopting right now. Do your research, consult others who have experience with these and do the right thing.
