infrastructure projects - SDLC or ?

[jaymaechtlen]

I posted a thread in another forum - it might have belonged here instead?

SDLC for infrastructure

comments?

 

[johnherman]

Well, I can't reply in the other forum since it's private, so here's my thoughts. Infrastructure (generally) is well suited for either standard waterfall (well known requirements) or spiral (a kind of iterative process). Waterfall generally works when there are hard deadlines and well known requirements. However, if the requirements are not well know, and especially if the technology is not well known, then a spiral type process can be used. Especially if the users (or even the systems folks) don't really know what they want. Most of the time, however, people know for certain what they *don't* want. So that implies that requirements are refined as the project (prototype?) evolves. Eventually, like a spiral, the project team converges onto a solution.

While I have made some sweeping generalizations about infrastructure projects, in reality, they are just another project. There are several "checklists" out on the net to help one decide how much the project can be rigid waterfall versus flexible agile. Here are a few links to get you started.

http://www.leaseweblabs.com/2014/01...comparing-software-development-methodologies/

http://pm.stackexchange.com/questions/389/when-to-use-waterfall-when-to-use-scrum

http://www.base36.com/2012/12/agile-waterfall-methodologies-a-side-by-side-comparison/

http://www.seguetech.com/blog/2013/07/05/waterfall-vs-agile-right-development-methodology

http://www.liquidplanner.com/blog/agile-v-waterfall-which-project-management-style-is-right-for-you/

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adaptive uber data for info galaxies (bigger, better, faster than agile big data clouds)

 

[jaymaechtlen]

I forgot the other forum was private, and found this one after I made the other post.
I'll repeat it here:

I'm a technical writer, working with the IT group of a SoCal city.
They want me to develop a body of policies and procedures for the City's IT -
the idea being to draw from existing "best practices" rather than "what they're actually doing now".
OK, cool - hopefully the results of this exercise will be useful for them.

To the point - SDLC is sometimes written as "Software Development Life Cycle", and sometimes as "Systems Development Life Cycle"
What kind of process and testing cycle do you see or recommend for infrastructure/systems?

The selection, configuration, and deployment of a SAN could be pretty substantial, I'd guess.
Would an SDLC-type process be used, or is there other named process more suitable?

Any other forums for this kind of discussion?



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[jaymaechtlen]

Anyway, Thanks for the initial response.
Scoping and planning a system should be pretty similar to software. The dev process would depend on size of project, I suppose.
Testing - There's a lot of discussion about testing software - I don't see much about testing systems for deployment.
Is that just a part of IT-fu?
Or does it vary so widely that the hairy stuff has to depend on vendor expertise?

Regards
Jay