Edited by Christopher Douce, Monday 29 September 2025 at 17:41
Software engineering is about the creation of large software systems, products or solutions in a systematic way with a team of people.
Since software can serve very different needs and has necessarily different requirements, there are a variety of ways that software can be built. These differences relate to the need to take account of different levels of risk. You would use different processes to create a video game, than you would for an engine management system. Software engineering processes are also about making the ‘invisible stuff’ of software visible to software engineers and other stakeholders.
One of the abbreviations that is sometimes used is SDLC, an abbreviation for Software Development Lifecycle. Software has a lifecycle which begins with requirements and ends with maintenance. Although software never wears out, it does age, since the context in which it sits changes. Processes can be applied to manage the stages within and between the software life cycle.
Different terms are used to refer to the development of software systems. There can be greenfield systems, brownfield systems, or legacy systems. Legacy systems can be thought of the ‘old systems that continue to do useful stuff. Legacy systems are also brownfield systems, which software engineers maintain, to make sure they continue to work. Greenfield systems are completely new software products. In the spirit of honesty, more often than not, software engineers will typically be working on brownfield systems and legacy systems than greenfield systems; systems that are towards the end of the software lifecycle than at the start.
The blogs that follow highlight different elements of the software development process. It begins with a discussion about the differences between waterfall and agile. It then goes onto say something about a technique known as Continual Integration/Continual Deployment (CI/CD), which has emerged through the development of cloud computing. CI/CD has been made possible through the development of something called ‘infrastructure as code’, which is worth spending a moment looking at (or listening to). Before we move onto the important subject of software quality, I then share a link to a podcast that discusses a process that aims to enhance quality: code reviews.
Software Engineering Radio: Software engineering processes
Software engineering is about the creation of large software systems, products or solutions in a systematic way with a team of people.
Since software can serve very different needs and has necessarily different requirements, there are a variety of ways that software can be built. These differences relate to the need to take account of different levels of risk. You would use different processes to create a video game, than you would for an engine management system. Software engineering processes are also about making the ‘invisible stuff’ of software visible to software engineers and other stakeholders.
One of the abbreviations that is sometimes used is SDLC, an abbreviation for Software Development Lifecycle. Software has a lifecycle which begins with requirements and ends with maintenance. Although software never wears out, it does age, since the context in which it sits changes. Processes can be applied to manage the stages within and between the software life cycle.
Different terms are used to refer to the development of software systems. There can be greenfield systems, brownfield systems, or legacy systems. Legacy systems can be thought of the ‘old systems that continue to do useful stuff. Legacy systems are also brownfield systems, which software engineers maintain, to make sure they continue to work. Greenfield systems are completely new software products. In the spirit of honesty, more often than not, software engineers will typically be working on brownfield systems and legacy systems than greenfield systems; systems that are towards the end of the software lifecycle than at the start.
The blogs that follow highlight different elements of the software development process. It begins with a discussion about the differences between waterfall and agile. It then goes onto say something about a technique known as Continual Integration/Continual Deployment (CI/CD), which has emerged through the development of cloud computing. CI/CD has been made possible through the development of something called ‘infrastructure as code’, which is worth spending a moment looking at (or listening to). Before we move onto the important subject of software quality, I then share a link to a podcast that discusses a process that aims to enhance quality: code reviews.