What Is a Software Development Process?

A software development process provides guidance on how to develop software successfully. Such guidance may cover the entire spectrum of activities associated with software development. The process might manifest itself in the form of proven approaches, best practices, guidelines, techniques, sequencing, and so on.

Whether formal or informal, the software development process ultimately employed has a profound impact on the success of a software project. An ad hoc approach might work well for a small project, but it might lead to chaos for a large project and hence greatly impact the overall schedule. Similarly, a bureaucratic software development process may lead to frustration and bog down even the best team.