Analysis

Software development is a process that starts with stakeholder needs and ends with running software that meets those needs:

flowchart LR
  N[Stakeholder\nneeds]
  R[Requirements]
  S[Subsystems]
  AT[Acceptance\ntests]
  UT[Unit\ntests]
  C[Code]
  P[Package]
  E[Running\nsoftware]
  M[Metrics]
  F[Fitness functions]


  UT --TDD--> C
  C --CI--> P
  P --CD--> E
  E -- o11y --> M
  R --Architecting--> F

  N --Requirements\nelicitation-->
  R --Architecting--> S
  R --Requirements\nspecification--> AT
  AT --detailed\nspecification--> UT
  S --detailed\ndesign--> UT

  M --Compare--> Success
  F --Compare--> Success

Ideally, this process is:

• Iterative – The system starts small and grows over time by adding or changing parts. Each part goes through the process one or more times. Use case scenarios make good candidates for parts.
• Incremental – Each stage of the process refines work from earlier stages and/or adds information.

Artifacts from one stage should link to the artifacts from earlier stages that they refine or add information to. This provides traceability, which helps with impact analysis of proposed changes.

In an ideal world, we’d store artifacts in files that are both human and machine-readable. Stage-specific compilers verify the links between artifacts to ensure the system is complete and correct. Making the file formats machine-readable may mean humans need dedicated editors to work with the files.