System Development Life Cycle

The most opportunistic time for technology investment is during an economic downturn; it is the only area in which investment can change the operating profile of an organization—doing so effectively can create an insurmountable competitive gap. Bad IT economics will put you on the wrong side of this gap and may even be creating advantage for your competitors.—Dr. Howard Rubin¹

To gain competitive advantage during an economic downturn, smart executives invest in IT if they have the confidence in the IT organization to deliver that which is promised: quality products that meet or exceed stakeholder expectations, on time delivery and well managed budgets. For an IT organization to be successful today and tomorrow, it must evolve into a values-based culture that drives high performance, low turnover and increased productivity without impeding creativity and innovation. The organization must embrace defined, managed, measurable, repeatable and reusable practices that form the blueprint for their overall systems delivery strategy. That blueprint feeds the continuous improvement cycle. As it’s said in the Six Sigma world, “If you can’t measure it, why are you doing it?”

This is one reason why the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is so important. The SDLC provides a framework that describes the activities performed during each phase of a system development project—activities that are defined, managed, measurable, repeatable and reusable. Just what the doctor ordered! While most often associated with application development, a functional SDLC extends far beyond software. It endorses standards and practices to ensure consistency across projects and tasks undertaken by different groups within IT such as Telecom, Data Center, System Administration, Quality Assurance, Networking, Applications Development & Maintenance and others. I hope you'll agree that every IT project team has a responsibility to:

As the author of The Ultimate Guide to the SDLC and the Winning With The SDLC Series, I am recognized as a foremost authority on the System Development Life Cycle. My books were developed from practical hands-on experience and consultations with numerous scientists, scholars, academicians and corporate gurus that sometimes offered additional valuable facts that have never been published anywhere. Of course, you can always buy my book and save yourself thousands of dollars in consulting fees, or you can hire me to help improve your processes and move your organization from ability to capability. Some of the areas in which I can help you include: