Which software life cycle would be most appropriate for a web portal
development project? Why?

---

Request for Question Clarification by dogbite-ga on 08 May 2003 10:27 PDT

Hi 888-ga,

  I do not know of any standard set of
  software life cycles to choose from.
  What are you choosing between?

             dogbite-ga

---

Clarification of Question by 888-ga on 08 May 2003 23:20 PDT

I got 4 primary life cycle models for development: the waterfall
model, the incremental model, the evolutionary model,and the spiral
model.

Hi 888-ga,

  What life cycle is most appropriate for a
  project depends on many factors, some of
  which extend beyond the technical requirements 
  of the task.  For example, what process
  the customer is most comfortable with often
  heavily influences the decision.

  I will argue that the evolutionary model is
  most appropriate for a web portal.

  First, just to be clear, I think of a web portal
  as a large website that provides several services,
  include searching, news, directories, discussion
  groups, shopping, and links to other sites.  Such
  a site often adds or exapnds on features over time.
  Further, without the site in place, it is often
  very difficult to know how users will react to it
  and navigate its features.

  There is a nice description of the evolutionary
  model on the Catholic University of America website:

http://metr.cua.edu/faculty/mckenzie/mis327/Evolutionary.html

  On that page, it lists the lifecycle's benefits as:

    * Early delivery of portions of the system even though some of the
requirements are not yet decided;

    * Use of early releases as tools for requirements elicitation:

    * Benefits of the system are realized from early releases while
later releases are being developed.

  This fits exactly with a large evolving website
  like a portal.  In contrast, the Waterfall and 
  Incremental models are too rigid for the fast-moving
  Internet.  The spiral model is a possibility, but I
  feel it is too focused on risk management and correctness.

  Here are some other websites that you might find interesting.
  Verde LLC describes the spiral model and its emphasis
  on correctness here:

http://www.verdeit.com/VPages/SpiralDev.htm

  I also liked this NASA website on the Waterfall model:

http://asd-www.larc.nasa.gov/barkstrom/public/The_Standard_Waterfall_Model_For_Systems_Development.htm


  I found many helpful pages by searching for:

evolutionary software development model waterfall

  I hope that helps you.

                   dogbite-ga