The focus of DAD is on delivery, although how other aspects of the system life cycle affect the delivery life cycle are also addressed. As you can see in Figure 1 a full system/product life cycle goes from the initial idea for the product, through delivery, to operations and support and often has many iterations of the delivery life cycle. The following diagram a high-level view of the system life cycle, indicating the three phases which are the focus of DAD project teams (DAD product teams typically don’t work in phases) as well as the phases that are the focus of Disciplined DevOps. The DAD portion is the (up to) three phases life cycle where you incrementally build a consumable solution over time.
Figure 1. A high-level view of the delivery life cycle (click to enlarge).
Obviously there’s more to it than what the high-level diagram shows. DAD, because it’s not prescriptive and strives to reflect reality as best it can, actually supports several versions of a delivery life cycle. Six versions of the life cycle are supported:
- The Agile life cycle. This project life cycle is based on Scrum but extended so as to provide a streamlined strategy from beginning to end. It is depicted in Figure 2 and described in the article DAD Life Cycle – Agile (Scrum Based).
- The Lean life cycle. This project life cycle is based on Kanban. It is depicted in Figure 3 and described in the article DAD Life Cycle – Lean.
- The Continuous Delivery: Agile life cycle. This modern agile, stable-team life cycle is based on Scrum. It is depicted in Figure 4 and described in the article DAD Life Cycle Continuous Delivery: Agile.
- The Continuous Delivery: Lean life cycle. This modern agile, stable-team life cycle is based on Kanban. It is depicted in Figure 5 and described in the article DAD Life Cycle Continuous Delivery: Lean.
- The Exploratory/Lean Startup life cycle. This life cycle is based on Lean Startup strategies. It is depicted in Figure 6 and described in the article DAD Life Cycle Exploratory (Lean Startup).
- Program life cycle. This life cycle is for a team of teams. It is depicted in Figure 7 and described in the article DAD Life Cycle – Program.
Figure 2. DAD’s Agile life cycle (click to expand).
Figure 3. DAD's Lean life cycle (click to expand).
Figure 4. DAD’s Continuous Delivery: Agile life cycle (click to expand).
Figure 5. DAD’s Continuous Delivery: Lean life cycle (click to expand).
Figure 6. DAD’s Exploratory (Lean Startup) life cycle (click to expand).
Figure 7. DAD’s Program life cycle (click to expand).
DAD teams will adopt a life cycle that is most appropriate for their situation and then tailor it appropriately (remember the DA™ principle Context Counts).For more about this topic, including how to choose between each life cycle, please read the article A Full Agile Delivery Life Cycle.