What Is the Difference Between a Life Cycle Model and a Development Model and Why Should I Care?

Systems engineers usually agree that a structured approach to the development of complex systems significantly increases the chances of a successful project. At the same time, systems engineers are often exposed to significantly different situations, so that the company's own development process is often perceived as inappropriate.

In its Situation Context Framework (SCF), PMI differentiates between 7 dimensions (e.g. team size, domain complexity, availability of skills) that must be considered in order to select a situation-dependent strategy for the development of complex software. Since many decisions are made at the very beginning of the project when choosing the development approach (e.g. communication within the team, number and frequency of reviews, estimation of project costs and schedule), it makes sense to spend time selecting a project-specific approach.

In this presentation, fundamentally important approaches are presented and the importance of tailoring is emphasized. Both theoretical principles, which the author used in the revision of the standards ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-1 Guidelines for Lifecycle Management and ISO/IEC/IEEE 24748-2 Guideline for the Application of ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288, and the experience that the author has gained in his projects in the real world are presented and combined to form an overall picture.