Boehm Spiral Lifecycle

The Boehm Spiral Model breaks down system development into phases and treats each phase in effect as a separate project. There is great flexibility in how the phases are carried out but each phase should include planning, identification of alternatives / constraints and a risk analysis of continuing the project.

An example of spiral model is shown below.

The early phases may be run as the evolutionary model with the final stage as a waterfall model. At the start of the project an initial budget can be set for each phase and refined at the planning stage of each successive phase.

The spiral model is suitable for large projects. Outcome and costs are well planned and managed within a spiral period (often year). Costs for the whole project are uncertain but are at least managed by an explicit risk management activity.

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