Illustrating and discussing the software development process

When writing program code in the context of a comprehensive project, which is estimated to be over the size of 10.000 LOC (lines of code), frequently a process Software Development Process manifests as shown in Figure 1.

The process shown is greatly simplified compared to the full ITIL Software Development Life Cycle recommendation. Additionally the software developer will likely not be burdened with the larger context of project management, which for instance includes project planning and project maintenance, but will rather focus on the project from a developer's perspective.

For smaller projects such as a simple plugin, the process that comes most naturally is actually an agile one (not shown).

The development process generally begins with an idea, such as the wishes of a client.

These are gradually carved out and put into tangible goals, with the ulterior objectives being laid out in a specification sheet. Complex goals which are not an integral part of the project and/or goals that may not be feasible in a given budget or time-frame should be dropped and put aside for possible future improvements. Otherwise the project would likely incur unreasonable financial risk.

Source: The illustration can be downloaded here. The text is taken from this article.