Extended Decision Support Matrix for Selection of SDLC-Models on Traditional and Agile Software Development Projects

Software Development Projects can vary considerably in difficulty, size and type. This has led to evolution and development of many associated project management methodologies and standard SDLC-Models. This paper acknowledges the risks associated with wrong selection of SDLC-models on business critical software projects and offers a pragmatic solution by proposing a handy selection matrix for choosing best-fit SDLC models on different types of Software Development Projects, covering both traditional and agile methodologies. This paper is the result of an study carried out to evaluate the methods & practices of Project Life Cycle Model Selection actually used and practiced on the projects selected for this study (from businesses and IT-industry in India), with overall objective of proposing better methods and prescriptive guidance for decision making process for right selection of SDLC-Model on business critical software development projects. Right selection of SDLC-Methodology using a decision support tool can and will help successful completion of business critical software development projects and realization of business objectives for which the projects were undertaken.