- While teams are used to optimizing their own respective areas of responsibility, there is lack of clarity on the overall core SDLC process resulting in applications being released that are of poor quality.
- Software development teams are struggling to release on time and within budget.
- Teams do not understand the overall process, are not communicating well, and traceability is hard to achieve.
- Each team claims to be optimized yet the final deliverable doesn’t reflect the expected quality.
Our Advice
Critical Insight
- Optimizing can make you worse. One cannot just optimize locally – the SDLC must be optimized in its entirety to ensure traceability across the process.
- Separate process from framework.
You don’t need to “Go Agile” or follow other industry jargon to effectively optimize your SDLC. - SDLC process improvement is ongoing.
Start with your team’s current capabilities and optimize. You should set expectations that new improvements will always come in the future.
Impact and Result
- Use a systematic framework to bring out local optimizations as potential candidates for SDLC optimization.
- Prioritize those candidates that will aid in optimizing the overall core SDLC process.
- Create the necessary governance and control structures to sustain the changes.
- Use Info-Tech tools and templates to accelerate your process optimization.
Create a Horizontally Optimized SDLC to Better Meet Business Demands Research & Tools
Start here – read the Executive Brief
Read this Executive Brief to understand Info-Tech's approach to SDLC optimization and why the SDLC must be optimized in its entirety to ensure traceability across the process.Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
- Create a Horizontally Optimized SDLC to Better Meet Business Demands – Phases 1-3
1. Document the current state of the SDLC
This phase of the blueprint will help in understanding the organization's business priorities, documenting the current SDLC process, and identifing current SDLC challenges.
- Create a Horizontally Optimized SDLC to Better Meet Business Demands – Phase 1: Document the Current State of the SDLC
- SDLC Optimization Playbook
2. Define root causes, determine optimization initiatives, and define target state
This phase of the blueprint, will help with defining root causes, determining potential optimization initiatives, and defining the target state of the SDLC.
- Create a Horizontally Optimized SDLC to Better Meet Business Demands – Phase 2: Define Root Causes, Determine Optimization Initiatives, and Define Target State
3. Develop a rollout strategy for SDLC optimization
This phase of the blueprint will help with prioritizing initiatives in order to develop a rollout strategy, roadmap, and communication plan for the SDLC optimization.
- Create a Horizontally Optimized SDLC to Better Meet Business Demands – Phase 3: Develop a Rollout Strategy for SDLC Optimization
- SDLC Communication Template
Workshop: Create a Horizontally Optimized SDLC to Better Meet Business Demands
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
1 Document Your Current SDLC
The Purpose
Understand SDLC current state.
Key Benefits Achieved
Understanding of your current SDLC state and metrics to measure the success of your SDLC optimization initiative.
Activities
1.1 Document the key business objectives that your SDLC delivers upon.
1.2 Document your current SDLC process using a SIPOC process map.
1.3 Identify appropriate metrics in order to track the effectiveness of your SDLC optimization.
1.4 Document the current state process flow of each SDLC phase.
1.5 Document the control points and tools used within each phase.
Outputs
Documented business objectives
Documented SIPOC process map
Identified metrics to measure the effectiveness of your SDLC optimization
Documented current state process flows of each SDLC phase
Documented control points and tools used within each SDLC phase
2 Assess Challenges and Define Root Causes
The Purpose
Understand current SDLC challenges and root causes.
Key Benefits Achieved
Understand the core areas of your SDLC that require optimization.
Activities
2.1 Identify the current challenges that exist within each SDLC phase.
2.2 Determine the root cause of the challenges that exist within each SDLC phase.
Outputs
Identified current challenges
Identified root causes of your SDLC challenges
3 Determine Your SDLC Optimization Initiatives
The Purpose
Understand common best practices and the best possible optimization initiatives to help optimize your current SDLC.
Key Benefits Achieved
Understand the best ways to address your SDLC challenges.
Activities
3.1 Define optimization initiatives to address the challenges in each SDLC phase.
Outputs
Defined list of potential optimization initiatives to address SDLC challenges
4 Define SDLC Target State
The Purpose
Define your SDLC target state while maintaining traceability across your overall SDLC process.
Key Benefits Achieved
Understand what will be required to reach your optimized SDLC.
Activities
4.1 Determine the target state of your SDLC.
4.2 Determine the people, tools, and control points necessary to achieve your target state.
4.3 Assess the traceability between phases to ensure a seamlessly optimized SDLC.
Outputs
Determined SDLC target state
Identified people, processes, and tools necessary to achieve target state
Completed traceability alignment map and prioritized list of initiatives
5 Prioritize Initiatives and Develop Rollout Strategy
The Purpose
Define how you will reach your target state.
Key Benefits Achieved
Create a plan of action to achieve your desired target state.
Activities
5.1 Gain the full scope of effort required to implement your SDLC optimization initiatives.Gain the full scope of effort required to implement your SDLC optimization initiatives.
5.2 Identify the enablers and blockers of your SDLC optimization.
5.3 Define your SDLC optimization roadmap.
5.4 Create a communication plan to share initiatives with the business.
Outputs
Level of effort required to implement your SDLC optimization initiatives
Identified enablers and blockers of your SDLC optimization
Defined optimization roadmap
Completed communication plan to present your optimization strategy to stakeholders