Software Development Methodology

20 notes in this chapter

Software Development Methodology Terms MOC

20 terms covering how software actually gets planned, built, and shipped — the lifecycle itself, the process models that move through it, the Agile frameworks that dominate today, and the ceremonies and metrics teams run day to day. Each note has: definition, how it works, why it matters, common pitfalls, related terms, and a concrete example.

This is the process half of software engineering. For the code-craft half — SOLID, design patterns, testing, refactoring — see Software Engineering Practices Terms MOC.

Lifecycle Foundations

Process Models

Agile Frameworks

Agile in Practice

Scaling and Delivery

How to use this

Read the lifecycle and process models before the Agile material — Agile is a reaction to the problems Waterfall exposed, and it barely makes sense without that context. The “Agile in Practice” notes are the vocabulary you will actually hear in standups and planning meetings.

One clarification worth internalizing early: Agile is a philosophy, not a methodology. It is four values and twelve principles. Scrum, Kanban, and XP are the frameworks teams actually run. “We use Agile” is roughly as specific as “we use physics.”

Suggested order if starting from zero

  1. SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) → Requirements Engineering — the phases every method has to cover somehow
  2. Waterfall Model → V-Model → Spiral Model → Iterative and Incremental Development — how process models evolved, and what each was reacting to
  3. Agile Manifesto → Scrum → Kanban → Extreme Programming (XP) → Lean Software Development — the modern mainstream and its variants
  4. Sprint → Product Backlog and Refinement → Story Points and Estimation → Velocity and Burndown Charts → Definition of Done → Sprint Retrospective — the day-to-day mechanics
  5. DevOps Culture → Scaled Agile (SAFe and LeSS) → Team Topologies and Conway’s Law — what happens past a single team

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