---
Title: "What Is the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?"
Url: "https://computer.io/glossary/software-development-life-cycle"
Topic: "Product and engineering"
Description: "The software development life cycle (SDLC) is the process of planning, building, testing, deploying and maintaining software. Phases, models and examples."
---

# What is the software development life cycle (SDLC)?

The software development life cycle (SDLC) is the structured process teams follow to plan, design, build, test, deploy and maintain software, so it meets requirements, stays on schedule and is high quality. Common models include waterfall, agile and DevOps.

## Phases

| Phase | Output |
| --- | --- |
| Planning | Goals and scope |
| Requirements | Specs |
| Design | Architecture |
| Build | Code |
| Test | Verified features |
| Deploy | Release |
| Maintain | Fixes and updates |

## Models

Waterfall (sequential), agile (iterative), DevOps (continuous delivery).

## Where customers fit

Feedback and bug reports from support feed back into planning.

## FAQ

### What are the 7 phases of SDLC?

Planning, requirements, design, development, testing, deployment and maintenance.

### Is agile an SDLC model?

Yes, an iterative one.

### What is shift left in SDLC?

Testing and security earlier in the cycle.

## Related terms

- [Agile sprint](https://computer.io/glossary/agile-sprint)
- [Bug tracking](https://computer.io/glossary/bug-tracking)
- [Product backlog](https://computer.io/glossary/product-backlog)

## How Computer helps

- [Meet computer](https://devrev.ai/meet-computer)

## Further reading

- [Software product lifecycle](https://devrev.ai/blog/software-product-lifecycle)