title: Practices —
Core practices of SDLC
These are not phases to follow, but practices we engage in - intentionally, iteratively, and continuously. Each practice reflects a mindset and discipline that supports sustainable, user-centred delivery. They can occur in parallel, loop back, or fade in and out depending on the context. What matters most is that we actively engage in each practice, at the right time, for the right reason.
- Discovering: Understanding people, problems, and possibilities through research and exploration.
- Defining: Creating clarity of purpose, goals, priorities, and value.
- Designing: Exploring and validating ideas through prototypes, feedback, and co-design.
- Developing: Crafting working software through collaboration, code, and configuration.
- Testing: Ensuring quality, usability, and safety throughout the delivery cycle.
- Deploying: Delivering working software into the hands of users - early, safely, and often.
- Operating: Supporting and observing live systems to ensure reliability, performance, and trust.
- Learning: Measuring impact, gathering insights, and continuously improving outcomes.