SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle. It is a structured approach or process used in the field of software engineering to guide the development of software systems or applications. It  provides a structured and organized approach to software development, ensuring that software is developed in a controlled and planned manner, meeting the needs of stakeholders, and delivering a high-quality, reliable, and maintainable product. 

Software Development Life Cycle, is a process that software developers follow to create software applications. Think of it as a series of steps or stages that are followed to develop software from start to finish. Here’s a simple explanation of SDLC in layman’s terms:

• Planning and requirement analysis.
• Defining requirements.
• Designing the product architecture.
• Building or developing the project.
• Testing the product.
• Deployment and maintenance.

Planning: In this stage, the software development team plans out what the software will do, who will use it, and how it will work. They gather requirements from users or clients and create a plan for the development process.

• In the Planning Phase, the Project Manager works with the project team to create the technical design, task list, resource plan, communications plan, budget, and initial schedule for the project, and establishes the roles and responsibilities of the project team and its stakeholders.
• The purpose of the Planning Phase is to plan all project processes and activities required to ensure project success and to create a comprehensive set of plans.

Requirement Analysis-

• Requirements analysis, also called requirements engineering, is the process of determining user expectations for a new or modified product.
• Requirements analysis is critical to the success or failure of a systems or software project. In the requirement analysis phase; we make sure, that the requirements should be documented, actionable, measurable, testable, traceable, related to identified business needs or opportunities, and defined to a level of detail sufficient for system design.

Design: Once the plan is in place, the team designs how the software will look and function. They create blueprints or designs of the software’s user interface and features, like a blueprint for a building.

In this third phase, the system and software design documents are prepared as per the requirement specification document. This helps define overall system architecture.

This design phase serves as input for the next phase of the model.There are two kinds of design documents developed in this phase:

Development: In this stage, the developers write the actual code for the software based on the design. It’s like building the software’s “skeleton” by writing the instructions that make it work.

Testing: Once the code is written, the team tests the software to find and fix any bugs or issues. It’s like checking the software for errors and making sure it works correctly.

Deployment: After testing, the software is ready to be deployed or released to users. It’s like delivering the finished product to customers so they can start using it.

Once the software testing phase is over and no bugs or errors left in the system then the final deployment process starts. Based on the feedback given by the project manager, the final software is released and checked for deployment issues if any.

Maintenance: Once the software is deployed, it may require ongoing maintenance, such as fixing bugs, making updates, or adding new features, to keep it running smoothly and up-to-date.

Once the system is deployed, and customers start using the developed system, following 3 activities occur​

• Bug fixing – bugs are reported because of some scenarios which are not tested at all​
• Upgrade – Upgrading the application to the newer versions of the Software
• ​Enhancement – Adding some new features into the existing software​

Documentation: Throughout the SDLC process, the team creates documentation, such as user manuals or technical guides, to help users understand and use the software effectively.

SDLC is like a roadmap that guides software development teams in creating software applications in a structured and organized manner, ensuring that the software meets the requirements, is tested, and deployed successfully to users.