I did a little sniffing on the web to find out what the acronym stands for, exactly. Silly me. I actually expected a cogent, coherent, standards-based answer.
According to webopedia.com and Wikipedia , the acronym variously stands for "System Development Life Cycle" (or "System Design Life Cycle") in most cases, and "Systems Development Life Cycle" by the DOJ (why lawyers have any say in this, I don't know).
Note the singular "System" in most uses (Wikipedia has a re-direct to the plural from the singular, so I presume they are considered to be of equal validity for that reference). Most modern, rapid/agile/fast/whatever methodology references I could find (see here , here , here and here for examples) refer to it in the singular, although that's certainly not univerally true (hit the link to the last example above for a real quandary). There are a ton of other, software-focused sites that call it, predictably, the "Software Development Life Cycle."
I couldn't find the Yourdon book to verify his Delphinic definition of the acronym. OK, actually: I threw up my hands in dismay after so many un-attributed opinions. I will probably never really care whether Yourdon refers to it in the singular or plural. Based upon what I can find, my gut says that "System" is conversationally interchangeable with "Systems" in most general-purpose cases.
In other words, people call it what they want.
Wait! What about "PLC" (Project Life Cycle)? Isn't that valid, too? I mean, what if there is/are no "System(s)" involved? Or software? Don't BAs just care about the "Project?"
I think you get my drift. To cut to the chase: There's no substitute for a good glossary. No matter how many arguments other people are having about terms, if they are defined in your company's glossary for all to see, then you can do business.
Isn't that what it's all about? Correct me if I'm wrong…
November 8th, 2006 at 4:33 am
The software engineering field is a very young branch and it would take much more time for it to develop and establish formal definitions for all the jargons used.
I recently had to contemplate on something in similar lines when someone asked me what is the difference between the job of a a BA (Business Analyst), SA (system Analyst) and a BSA (Business System Analyst). I was able to point some difference between a BA and an SA. But the BSA job profile still confuses me. May be it is a cross between a BA and an SA. Could you please dwell on this from your experience. Thanks.
November 16th, 2006 at 4:22 pm
One of the things colleagues and I have noticed over the past few years is the death of definitions. This is particularly noticeable in the position title world, where titles no longer have any objective meaning. Each company–and even department–seems to define positions differently.
The BA position is undergoing this transformation now, I believe. Over the past couple of months, I’ve noted that BA definitions have gone from being the translator between business and technology, to being project managers.
All due to the death of objective truths…
November 22nd, 2006 at 6:57 pm
I’m an old guy. When I was younger SDLC stood for Synchronous Data Link Communications - an opaque IBM term for their proprietary bisynch communications architecture.
I think the BA is being asked to do the PM job more and more because they work cheaper and are supposed to know more about the incipient project since he/she was involved in the requirments definition phase. PM’s are too expensive to employ before the actual coding starts - in Management’s minds.
December 26th, 2006 at 1:32 am
Hello,
SDLC stands for Software Development Life Cycle. It entails all the processes that are to be carried out for a successfull software product. There are lot of other methods that comes under SDLC, like for instance Waterfall model, spiral model and all these have the processes that SDLC addresses to.
And as a BA, seems adequate to know all the processes and their relevance in accordance to filing requirement analysis and other documents.
Thanks & Regards
Syed Mumshad Ali
January 3rd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I agree with both “newbie” that SDLC stands for System or Systems Development Life Cycle or Software Development Life Cycle. All may include any number of methods or development processes to best define software. I agree with Syed that BA’s should be familiar with different development processes and be able to apply the right processes and techniques that are most useful to their projects. Organizations have primarily used an SDLC to standardize a process to accomplish three big things: 1) to best identify the scope and complexity of a project, 2) to best communicate the appropriate details of stakeholder needs for the project and then finally 3) to define a software product that satisfies the agreed upon stakeholder needs. That does not mean that by following a standard SDLC that the project must result in a total software solution or even the right solution. Organizations (primarily IT) who use an SDLC are applying repeatable, best practices to become more efficient and engineer better software.