software-development-life-cycle-vocabulary.yml

vocabulary:
  name: Software Development Life Cycle Vocabulary
  description: >-
    Normative vocabulary and taxonomy for the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC),
    covering phases, methodologies, roles, artifacts, and quality dimensions used
    in modern software engineering practices.
  version: '1.0'
  created: '2026-05-02'
  modified: '2026-05-02'

phases:
  - term: Requirements Analysis
    definition: >-
      The process of identifying, documenting, and validating the needs and
      constraints of stakeholders to produce a specification that the software
      must fulfill.
    aliases:
      - Requirements Gathering
      - Requirements Engineering
    related:
      - User Story
      - Acceptance Criteria
      - Use Case

  - term: System Design
    definition: >-
      The process of defining the architecture, modules, interfaces, and data
      flow to satisfy the specified requirements. Includes high-level and
      low-level design.
    aliases:
      - Software Design
      - Architecture Design
    related:
      - Architecture
      - Design Pattern
      - UML

  - term: Implementation
    definition: >-
      The phase where developers write, review, and integrate source code
      according to the design specification, following coding standards
      and practices.
    aliases:
      - Coding
      - Development
    related:
      - Source Control
      - Code Review
      - Pull Request

  - term: Testing
    definition: >-
      The process of evaluating software to detect defects and verify that
      it meets specified requirements. Includes unit, integration, system,
      and acceptance testing.
    aliases:
      - Quality Assurance
      - QA
      - Verification
    related:
      - Unit Test
      - Integration Test
      - Test Automation

  - term: Deployment
    definition: >-
      The process of releasing software to a production or end-user environment,
      including release packaging, environment configuration, and rollout strategies.
    aliases:
      - Release
      - Rollout
      - Go-Live
    related:
      - CI/CD
      - Blue-Green Deployment
      - Canary Release

  - term: Maintenance
    definition: >-
      Ongoing activities after deployment to correct defects, improve performance,
      adapt to environmental changes, and add new capabilities while preserving
      system integrity.
    aliases:
      - Operations
      - Support
    related:
      - Bug Fix
      - Patch
      - Hotfix

methodologies:
  - term: Agile
    definition: >-
      An iterative and incremental approach to software development that emphasizes
      collaboration, customer feedback, and small, rapid releases. Guided by the
      Agile Manifesto principles.
    related:
      - Scrum
      - Kanban
      - Sprint

  - term: Scrum
    definition: >-
      An agile framework for managing and completing complex projects using fixed-length
      iterations called sprints, daily stand-ups, retrospectives, and dedicated roles
      including Scrum Master and Product Owner.
    related:
      - Sprint
      - Backlog
      - Retrospective

  - term: Kanban
    definition: >-
      A visual workflow management method for defining, managing, and improving
      services that deliver knowledge work, using a board with columns representing
      workflow stages.
    related:
      - Work In Progress
      - WIP Limit
      - Kanban Board

  - term: Waterfall
    definition: >-
      A linear and sequential software development approach where each phase must
      be completed before the next begins, with minimal iteration between phases.
    related:
      - Sequential Development
      - Gantt Chart

  - term: DevOps
    definition: >-
      A set of practices and cultural philosophies that combine software development
      and IT operations to shorten the development life cycle and deliver features,
      fixes, and updates frequently.
    related:
      - CI/CD
      - Infrastructure as Code
      - Site Reliability Engineering

  - term: DevSecOps
    definition: >-
      An extension of DevOps that integrates security practices throughout the
      software development life cycle rather than applying security only at the
      end of the development process.
    related:
      - Static Analysis
      - SAST
      - DAST

artifacts:
  - term: User Story
    definition: >-
      A short, simple description of a feature told from the perspective of the
      person who desires the new capability, typically following the format
      "As a [role], I want [feature] so that [benefit]."
    related:
      - Acceptance Criteria
      - Epic
      - Backlog

  - term: Sprint
    definition: >-
      A fixed time period (typically 1-4 weeks) during which a defined set of
      work is completed and made ready for review in Scrum methodology.
    related:
      - Sprint Planning
      - Sprint Review
      - Sprint Retrospective

  - term: Pull Request
    definition: >-
      A mechanism for submitting contributions to a codebase that allows for
      peer review, discussion, and approval before merging into the main branch.
    aliases:
      - Merge Request
      - Code Review
    related:
      - Branch
      - Code Review
      - Merge

  - term: CI/CD Pipeline
    definition: >-
      An automated sequence of steps that code changes must pass through from
      development to production, including build, test, and deployment stages.
    aliases:
      - Build Pipeline
      - Deployment Pipeline
    related:
      - Continuous Integration
      - Continuous Delivery
      - Continuous Deployment

  - term: Test Coverage
    definition: >-
      A metric measuring the degree to which source code is tested by automated
      tests, typically expressed as a percentage of lines, branches, or functions
      exercised by the test suite.
    related:
      - Unit Test
      - Code Quality
      - Technical Debt

quality-dimensions:
  - term: Code Quality
    definition: >-
      A measure of how well source code conforms to coding standards, design
      principles, and best practices, typically assessed through static analysis,
      code reviews, and quality metrics.
    related:
      - Technical Debt
      - Code Smell
      - Refactoring

  - term: Technical Debt
    definition: >-
      The implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy but
      limited solution now instead of a better approach that would take longer.
    related:
      - Refactoring
      - Code Quality
      - Maintainability

  - term: Velocity
    definition: >-
      An agile metric that measures the amount of work a team completes during
      a sprint, used for planning future sprints and estimating project timelines.
    related:
      - Sprint
      - Story Points
      - Capacity Planning

  - term: Mean Time to Recovery
    definition: >-
      The average time it takes to restore a service after an incident or
      failure, a key reliability metric for production systems.
    aliases:
      - MTTR
    related:
      - Incident Response
      - Reliability
      - SLA

  - term: Lead Time
    definition: >-
      The time elapsed from when a work item is created to when it is delivered
      to the end user, encompassing all development, testing, and deployment stages.
    related:
      - Cycle Time
      - Throughput
      - Flow Metrics