software-lifecycle

Templates for lifecycle documentation

Does anybody have some good templates (or links to) that they use for software lifecycle documents (feasibility, concept, requirements, architecture)? I've taken some old ones I've had from school and slimmed them down a bit since none of the current projects that I work on are to that scale, but they always feel somewhat clugey. Sadly...

Real life examples of methodologies and lifecycles.

Choosing the correct lifecycle and methodology isn't as easy as it was before (when there weren't so many methodologies, this days a new one emerges every day). I've found that most projects require a certain level of evolution and that each project is different from the rest. That way, extreme programming works with for a project for a...

Lifespan of Software: How often do you expect to do start from scratch?

I've heard people say that the average lifespan of software is about 3 years, but that seems shockingly low to me. I don't buy it. After all, some of my clients have lumbering mainframes that have been around for 20 years, and they're so entrenched that they might live forever. I personally tend to start talking about severe refactori...

How to avoid short-lifespan enterprise applications?

A while ago another question referred to the (possibly urban tale) statistic that ... the average lifespan of software is about 3 years At the time I came up with the following reasons (and I'm sure there are more possibly better ones): A new major system (ERP, CRM, etc.) is implemented and it has an "integrated" module to repla...

What Development and Build Lifecycle Tools Do You Use?

I'm working on transitioning my current project of about 20 developers to a modern development and build environment. We currently use an RCS based source control system and an associated issue tracking system, both with Motif UIs. There is no formal production build process, its just whatever works. I'm interested in: Development T...

Problems with the waterfall model

I'm going to take an HCI exam tomorrow and a question on one of the past papers has really got me thinking, me and a few others are torn between A and C, what do you think? Q 25 - the waterfall technique is recognised as having several problems for the development of effective interactive systems. Which of the following is not one of th...

Training Material for Requirements Gathering

At a small software company, we have several developers who are very competent programmers but who have no formal Software Engineering training. As part of their career development it is time to offer them greater responsibilities, particularly at the earlier stages of the software lifecycle. What good training material is available abo...

Aldon and .Net Development

I'm looking for feedback from .Net developers who have experience with Aldon as a lifecycle management platform. We're seriously considering using Aldon for lifecycle management including source control, automated builds, etc. I know there are a lot of other options out there, but ours is primary an AS/400 shop (with AS/400 programmers...

When is a webapp called Beta, alpha, pre-alpha, or none

I've come across many apps on the web that call themselves Beta. I've come across other apps that had an alpha designation. I've even come across some that called themselves pre-alpha, whatever that means (if you know please clarify). Then I've come across some really bad webapps that shouldn't have left the developer's computer and they...