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Planning and Design

The Planning and Design phases are the foundational pillars of the SDLC. Mistakes made here are often the most expensive to fix later in the cycle.

Planning Phase​

Planning involves defining the scope, objectives, and feasibility of the project. It starts with requirement gathering—understanding exactly what the stakeholders need.

  • Feasibility Study: Can we build it? (Technical, Economic, Legal check).
  • Requirement Analysis: Detailed breakdown of features (Functional and Non-functional).
  • Project Scheduling: Estimating timelines, resources, and costs (often using Agile methodologies).

Key Deliverables​

  • Software Requirement Specification (SRS)
  • Project Plan / Roadmap
  • Risk Management Plan
How AI Can Help: Planning

Global AI tools are streamlining the planning process:

  • Meeting Automation: Tools can transcribe and summarize meetings, extracting action items automatically.
  • Agile Enhancements: In Agile, AI analyzes historical data to predict sprint velocities and suggest optimal backlogs.
  • Tool Spotlight: Atlassian Jira uses AI to help teams make data-driven decisions in planning.

Design Phase​

Once requirements are clear, the Design phase translates them into a blueprint for construction. This includes both high-level architecture and low-level component design.

  • System Architecture: Defining the high-level structure (Monolith vs Microservices, Cloud vs On-prem).
  • Data Design: Database schemas and data flow diagrams.
  • UI/UX Design: Wireframes, mockups, and prototypes for the user interface.

Key Deliverables​

  • Design Document (High-Level and Low-Level)
  • Database Schema
  • UI Mockups/Prototypes
How AI Can Help: Design

AI is accelerating the transition from concept to blueprint:

  • Generative UI: AI can generate initial UI/UX mockups from text requirements (e.g., Figma with WireGen).
  • Architectural Advice: AI tools can analyze requirements to suggest optimal system architectures and even creates preliminary code structures.
  • Documentation Analysis: AI can analyze voice transcripts or lengthy discussions on platforms like Harness or Bitbucket to extract key design decisions.