The Software development lifecycle can be represented in a number of ways. One popular framework for people involved in quality and testing is the V Model.

I am not sure who originated it, but it appears to come from Germany. It was shared with me by a colleague at OptimiseIT.  Wikipedia directs you to this site as the home of the model.

The English section of the site links to a detailed description of the model. As with any framework left in the hands of engineers it seems to have become overly complex in the subsequent versions.

I present a simplified version of it here and you can take what you like, or explore the detailed version if you are interested.

The V Model maps out the major stages of the software (or product) development process and matches each stage with a particular quality assurance or verification activity. It’s generally accepted that the quicker you identify problems and deal with them, the lower the cost of correction or repair.

For project managers and business analysts it expands and explains some of the quality management activities in a clear and concise way. For testers and quality managers it is probably an integral part of the toolkit. For me it expanded my appreciation of the role of quality and testing and informed me of a structure that is available to use for my projects.

You can read more on this topic here.  I also have a neat diagram you can view the whole model in.