SDLC

Software Development Life Cycle

Concise reference for engineering teams

SDLC reference

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Clear, team-friendly reference to move from idea to stable releases. Includes phases, milestones, OSS and freemium tools, and ready-to-use stacks.

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SDLC Phases (What happens and what good looks like)

1. Requirements Analysis

Purpose: Define what to build

  • Requirements list
  • Scope / non-scope
  • User stories or use cases
  • Success criteria

Milestone: Concept Approved

2. System Design

Purpose: Define how to build it

  • Architecture diagram
  • Data model
  • API definitions
  • UI wireframes

Milestone: Prototype

3. Implementation (Development)

Purpose: Build working software

  • Source code
  • Core features implemented
  • Database schema
  • Basic validation & error handling

Milestone: MVP

4. Testing

Purpose: Verify quality and stability

  • Test cases
  • Test results
  • Bug fixes
  • QA sign-off

Milestone: Release Candidate (RC)

5. Deployment

Purpose: Release to users

  • Production build
  • Deployment scripts
  • Environment configuration
  • Rollback plan

Milestone: GA (General Availability)

6. Maintenance & Support

Purpose: Keep the system stable & improve

  • Bug fixes
  • Performance improvements
  • Minor enhancements
  • Updated documentation

Milestone: Iterations (v1.1, v1.2…)

Milestone Mapping (At a Glance)

Prototype → System Design · MVP → Implementation · GA → Deployment
Milestone Mapping Prototype to System Design, MVP to Implementation, GA to Deployment Prototype System Design MVP Implementation GA Deployment

SDLC Cycle

Requirements → Design → Development → Testing → Deployment → Maintenance → back to Requirements

SDLC Cycle Circular flow from Requirements to Maintenance Requirements Design Development Testing Deployment Maintenance Iterate

Open Source Tools by SDLC Phase (OSS-first)

Requirements

  • Markdown + Git
  • DokuWiki / Wiki.js
  • Excalidraw
  • Taiga

System Design

  • Excalidraw
  • Dia / Draw.io (desktop)
  • Penpot
  • Wiki.js / DokuWiki

Implementation

  • VS Code
  • Git / GitLab CE / Gitea
  • npm / Yarn / pnpm
  • Hoppscotch
  • Insomnia Core

Testing

  • Jest
  • Mocha + Chai
  • Cypress
  • Playwright
  • Selenium
  • SuperTest / Frisby
  • Allure

Deployment / CI-CD

  • GitLab CI
  • Jenkins
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Argo CD
  • CapRover / Dokku

Maintenance & Monitoring

  • Prometheus
  • Grafana
  • Loki
  • Alertmanager
  • Sentry OSS

Communication

  • Matrix + Element
  • Mattermost

Tooling Overview

Tooling Overview Phases mapped to example tools Requirements Design Implementation Testing Deployment Monitoring Wiki.js / Notion GitLab CI / GH Actions Sentry / Grafana

Freemium / Affordable Hosted Tools (Fast setup)

Requirements

  • Notion / Confluence
  • Google Docs / Word
  • Miro / FigJam
  • Jira / ClickUp / Linear

System Design

  • Figma / Lucidchart
  • Miro / FigJam
  • Draw.io (diagrams.net)
  • Confluence / Notion

Implementation

  • VS Code / WebStorm
  • GitHub / GitLab / Bitbucket
  • npm / yarn
  • Postman / Insomnia

Testing

  • Jest / Mocha / Jasmine
  • Cypress / Playwright
  • SuperTest / Postman
  • TestRail / Zephyr

Deployment

  • GitHub Actions / GitLab CI / CircleCI
  • Vercel / Netlify
  • Heroku / Render
  • Docker
  • AWS / GCP / Azure

Maintenance

  • Sentry / LogRocket
  • Datadog / New Relic
  • PagerDuty / Opsgenie
  • Confluence / Notion
  • Slack / Teams

Compact view

Phase Tools
Requirements Notion, Jira, Miro
System Design Figma, Lucidchart, Notion
Implementation VS Code, GitHub, Postman
Testing Jest, Cypress, TestRail
Deployment GitHub Actions, Vercel, Heroku
Maintenance Sentry, Datadog, Slack

Recommended Default Stacks (Quick Picks)

OSS / Self-Hosted Starter Stack

Best for: Small teams that want full control and no SaaS lock-in.

  • Docs: Wiki.js
  • Planning: Taiga
  • Repo + CI: GitLab CE + GitLab CI
  • Deploy: Docker + Docker Compose (upgrade path: Kubernetes + Argo CD)
  • Monitoring: Prometheus + Grafana + Loki
  • Errors: Sentry OSS
  • Chat: Mattermost (optional)

Hosted / Freemium Starter Stack

Best for: Teams that want speed and minimal infrastructure overhead.

  • Docs: Notion
  • Planning: ClickUp or Linear
  • Repo + CI: GitHub + GitHub Actions
  • Frontend: Vercel
  • Backend: Render or Heroku
  • Errors: Sentry
  • Monitoring: Datadog (optional)
  • Chat: Slack

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