Best Practices and the SDLC

It has long been accepted that constant smorgasbord is fundamental to IT. While most IT passenger vehicles understand that change is part of the norm, the organizations that affiance them often resist it. Successful IT development c each(prenominal)s for having a clear design for proper IT direction of an organization. By victimization a System maturation Life Cycle (SDLC) model and sound vanquish practice methods, an IT manager can define that blueprint and make the dress hat possible IT decisions. correspond to http//www. bigpedia. comthe SDLC relates to models or methodologies that people use to develop bodys, generally computer trunks.A outlet of SDLC models have been created waterfall, fountain, spiral, build and fix, and rapid prototyping. There is not a authorised correct model, but most models forget hold the following travel or at least a variation. The first gradation is the projects readying stage, in this stage the project manager (PM) decides which SDLC model to use. The PM exit excessively survey and gather information in regards to the current teams skill and experience, any concerns or issues perceived by velocity management, such as cost, and a address for following up the ferment agreement. The next step is the analysis of the system.During the system analysis the PM breaks take in the entire project in to petty(a) pieces and assigns separately department their applicable tasks. This step is where the formulate is finalized and the PM begins to trip onto the systems design. Understanding the systems design is crucial to developing the system. At this step, each department head devises a plan on how their section can help develop the system. In the troika step, the architectural design, these individual plans atomic number 18 spliced together to form the completed plan. also during this step the work of building the system takes place.The PMs think shifts from planning the project to managing the development of t he project. During the next step, the probeing of the system takes place. This will ensure that all the bugs and flaws be re lastd before the deployment of the system. During the deployment step the system is apply for its intended purpose. As with all systems the final step, is the maintenance of the system, which lowest for as long as the system is used. During this step, routine maintenance is performed to include updates. Either during or after the development of a system, certain methods or techniques are discovered to be better than other nes. In the IT industry, these ideas are some cartridge clips called best practices. In a book titled electronic Government by Jack Rabin best practices are described as an idea that suggests that there is a technique, method, or process that is more impelling at delivering a craved outcome. The idea is that with proper processes, procedures, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems. Best practices can also be defined as the most proficient and effective manner of accomplishing a task, based on principles used repeatedly by legion(predicate) people.Best practices are a way for a company to create calibration within their operating procedures. A great example of a best practice was disp get outed by bolt recently. In August of 2008, Sprint created a guide to the infrastructure management layer to automate and speed the end product of resources from within their data centers. By creating this guide, they were able to quickly manage, back up, and acquire their data situateds associated with each test environment build. As a result, Sprint has improved customer satisfaction, reducing the clock it takes to fill requests.Another example of a best practice was in 2004 the nervous strain stuff decided that it engage it network administrators (admins) to pass quality checks before allowing them to operate on melodic line Force domains. Each Air Force base decided to test their networ k admins differently. This created a lot of confusion and large amounts of money for each Air Force base because they acted independently. Therefore, the Air Force decided to loose a best practice suggestion program, which allowed each Air Force base to submit their procedures for quality checking their network admins.Less than six months after the process started, the best practice tag was awarded to Eglin Air Force Base in Fort Walton Beach, Fl. They were allowed to implement their procedures Air Force wide. In the end, Eglin saved the Air Force six million dollars with its best practice procedures. As the full term best practice has become more popular, some organizations have begun using best practices to refer to what are in fact rules, causing creativity to hamper. This will never be the case with Google.Google believes that giving their employees unthawdom to move about the company without middle management following them around has truly prompted creativity. In a interv iew with CBS News Sunday Morning, Google CEO Sergey Brin explained that Google provides free epicure breakfast, lunch and dinnerall prepared by gourmet chefs. They get free medical care, daycare, and there is even a work chair in the lobby. All of these benefits spur creativity, which has made Google one of the valet Wide Web pioneers.Google does not use best practice because they are too rigid and do not allow employees to think away the box. Some best practices are needed though. This was the case with Microsoft and Netscape. They used a synchronize and stabilize method created by David Yoffie and Michael Cusumano to orchestrate a massive overseeing and managing of source code. This method allowed the two corporations to work efficiently in a parallel. During their research, they found that both companies were doing very similar tasks nightly.By creating a best practice model both companies could use they reduced production time by 15 %. Best practices along with the SDLC can help lay a great foundation for IT development. There are no set rules or guidelines for IT development. However, there is a certain structure that most self-made IT projects have in common. The first step to planning a wakeless IT project is the project selection. During this process the PM moldiness analyze if there is a need for the system. Does someone already have a system similar that the team could use or buy?After this step if the justification for the system is still necessary, then the team must move onto the next step, which is the planning of project controls. According to the paper Indentifying Best Practices in Information Technology Project Management, project controls are defined as an estimate, estimating, and budgeting. The estimate considers how numerous resources are needed to accomplish this project, the act of estimating is cartel the results of post project reviews, metrics, consultation, and informed assessment to arrive at time and resource requirements for an activity, and budgeting is the total cost of the project.Following this evaluation, you should assemble the team. It is important to compile a team that will be effective to the specific project. The team must understand the project goals and expectations. The next step is accessing the stakeholders involvement in the project. The stakeholder can be anyone from the management of the company to an actual customer. Some stakeholders will want as much control as the PM season other, will be hands off allowing the PM to make all the decisions.These guidelines are not all inclusive but they are a start to developing a successful IT project. Designing a skinny IT development project takes time and an excellent PM. There are many good models to follow, like the Arkansas best practices model. These models give a small or unorganized company the structure it needs to develop a good plan. If you follows these models along with a good SDLC you will be hygienic on your way to creating a solid project. These two models can lay the foundation you need for a successful blueprint.