HYBRID APPROACH. Software Development Approaches. Agile. Rapid. Waterfall

Transcription

1 Agile Rapid Waterfall ABSTRACT There are several approaches for software development and each separate approach has its own pros and cons, so, hybrid approach maximizes their strengths and reduces their weaknesses. HYBRID APPROACH

2 Table of Contents Chapter Content Page # 1 Executive Summary 01 2 Introduction 01 3 The Need for Hybrid Approaches 02 4 The Primary Hybrid Model in System Development Life Cycle 02 5 Details of Hybrid Model 04 6 Challenges 06 7 Conclusion 06 8 About this document 08

3 Chapter 1 Executive Summary Chapter 2 Introduction To stay competitive in the current market, software development companies need to deliver high-quality products and needed to focus on one size does not fit all approach. It is therefore needed to adopt different hybrid methodologies. The objective of hybrid approach id to ensure software development practitioners can optimize and combine several methodologies. Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC shows the connection between the various testing processes. It provides the model for the management of software application The critical issue that is needed to be worked on while adopting hybrid methodology is educating clients. To conclude, the model that the team is going to adopt must be following extensive planning before blending different methods into a hybrid. To stay competitive in the current market and gain market share, software development companies need to deliver high-quality products that meet or exceed customers expectations within budget and schedule. For this purpose, companies are constantly looking for ways to improve their software development process. It is mostly stated that one size does not fit all, which means that every project may require a different approach to allow its goals to be achieved. Currently, there are many software methodologies from which to choose. However, all have strengths and weaknesses because they focus on different aspects of the software development life cycle. As a consequence some academics and practitioners have proposed different hybrid approaches that combine two or more software methodologies with the purpose of leveraging respective strengths thereby improving the entire development process. Some frameworks that combine different methodologies have been proposed and some of them have been implemented in organizations to prove their effectiveness. 1

4 Chapter 3 The Need for Hybrid Approaches According to researchers a possible case for project failures may be the improper choice of a software methodology. Authors state that every methodology has its own characteristics that make it suitable for a type of project or organization. However, Researchers add that an organization using a software methodology may follow ideas from other methodologies or may even combine conventional methodologies with agile approaches. The objective of hybrid approach is to create a process that maximized the strengths of the involved methodologies while at the same time reducing their weaknesses to improve the software development lifecycle and produce high-quality products According to the hybrid approach school of thought, software development practitioners can optimize their software development lifecycle by combining traditional and agile methodologies. However, the literature has shown that there is a scarcity of empirical research on exactly how organizations are applying a hybrid methodology and the benefits and issues found during the process. Another question arises as to whether there is just one way or there are more ways of combining several methodologies. Recognizing that no one size fits all, there is an industry-wide need for developing more studies to add knowledge in this area and to provide a database of hybrid strategies. Chapter 4 An Overview of System Development Life Cycle Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC is a process used by software industry to design, develop and test high quality software. The systems development life-cycle concept applies to a range of hardware and software configurations, as a system can be composed of hardware only, software only, or a combination of both. Software life cycle models describe phases of the software cycle that provide a model for the development and lifecycle management of an application or piece of software. The methodology within the SDLC process can vary across industries and organizations, but standards such as ISO/IEC represent processes that establish a lifecycle for software, and provide a mode for the development, acquisition and configuration of software systems. Each phase produces deliverables required by the next phase in the life cycle. There are following six phases in every Software development life cycle model: 1. Requirement gathering and analysis 2. Design 3. Implementation or coding 4. Testing 5. Deployment 6. Maintenance 2

5 Maintenance Requirements Gathering Design Design: Next step is to bring down whole knowledge of requirements and analysis on the desk and design the software product. Focus shifts from the system's results to the way in which those results will be achieved and how the ideas of the requirements-gathering phase are accomplished. The designers attempt to turn the dreams of the managers and users into reality. Testing Implementation Emphasis during this phase is on making a practical, working design for what has been outlined in the requirements-gathering phase. Requirements-gathering: During the requirements-gathering phase, the needs of the company are outlined. Senior Company Members or Clients make their wish-lists about what they would like the software to do. Analysts ask questions about the intended use of the software, what type of data will be processed, how the software should handle the data, and how the data can be accessed once in the system. This information is then used to plan the basic project approach and to conduct product feasibility study in the economical, operational, and technical areas. The requirements are contemplated and segregated into user requirements, system requirements and functional requirements. Following the requirements phase, the software development team should have a detailed list of functions that the system will perform. Engineers produce meta-data and data dictionaries, logical diagrams, data-flow diagrams and in some cases pseudo codes. Implementation: In the implementation phase, the results of the design phase are translated into program code. In this stage of SDLC the actual development starts and the product is built. During this phase the programmers should make it their central goal to fulfill the requirements of the company and to meet the design outlined in the design phase. The output of the coding phase is the source code for the software that acts as input to the testing and maintenance phase. If the design is performed in a detailed and organized manner, code generation can be accomplished without much hassle. 3

6 Testing: In the testing phase, the results of the implementation phase are run through a series of tests to verify that it functions and that it meets goals of the requirements phase. Includes detection of errors in the software. The testing process starts with a test plan that recognizes test-related activities, such as test case generation, testing criteria, and resource allocation for testing. Unit testing is performed on individual software components. The process of integration brings together all the software components to create a complete system. System testing is performed on the software system as a whole. Includes detection of errors in the software. The testing process starts with a test plan that recognizes test-related activities, such as test case generation, testing criteria, and resource allocation for testing Maintenance: Once the product is tested and ready to be deployed it is released formally in the appropriate market. After the product is released in the market, its maintenance is done for the existing customer base. Maintenance is necessary to eliminate errors in the system during its working life and to tune the system to any variations in its working environments. Includes implementation of changes that software might undergo over a period of time, or implementation of new requirements after the software is deployed at the customer location. This phase may face challenges from hidden bugs and real-world unidentified problems. Chapter 5 Details of the Primary Hybrid Model The detailed figure of Hybrid model on the next page explains its operation mechanism regarding system development methods in its different kinds. The figure explains the connection between different phases of software development. The model figure shows the connection between the various testing processes with the different development phases, except two phases which are, deployment and maintenance which have connection with the previous development phases and the risk analysis processes. Also, the design phase is divided into two phases: the high-level design which centers on the primary sides of system design like, charts, algorithms according to the kind of used design. The second kind is low-level design which focuses on the programming design for system and its technical aspects which serve the system design. 4

7 Primary Hybrid Model 5

8 Moreover, this model explains the possibility of starting with any phase of system development phases to include all different kinds of projects. Chapter 6 Challenges Educating clients: Many of the clients have never been through a software development process before. To mitigate this, it is needed to include information about the hybrid process in all the proposals. The desire for an exact launch date: Many clients who want an exact launch date once a contract is signed. It is very difficult to give an accurate launch date at the start of a project because: Client projects are very fluid with changes in requirements. Sometimes a client s internal processes are difficult to determine the impact of this early on in the project. Chapter 7 Conclusion The most important aspect before the start of any project is to decide the model that the team is going to adopt. This requires extensive planning. Factors like budget, time, resource utilization, complexity of requirements, etc. should be considered in adopting a software model. To support the hybrid methodology, a number of resources are required. It is needed to develop the Hybrid model in order to include the traditional methods and advanced software engineering such as the Object-Oriented System Development. Of course, blending different methods into a hybrid project requires some level of compromise from all sides, one of the weaknesses of this approach is that early and continuous customer interaction is critical for the successful of the project. However, the hybrid approach can often be the most effective means of completing complex projects with shifting requirements. 6

9 Chapter 8 About this research paper To learn more, visit us at Plot# 1, Ibrahim Trade Tower, Block 7/8, M.C.H.S., Shahrae Faisal, Karachi, Pakistan Phone: