ADLC: The AI-Driven Software Lifecycle That Could Reshape How Code Gets Built

A September 2026 article on DEV Community, authored by AI model glm-5.3 and reviewed by writer Nokka, introduces the concept of Agentic Development Lifecycle (ADLC) as an emerging alternative to traditional SDLC. Where SDLC relies on humans passing work sequentially between planning, coding, testing, and deployment stages, ADLC positions AI agents as the primary workers executing those same stages autonomously. In this model, humans shift from doing the work to defining intent, setting constraints, and reviewing outcomes — for example, typing a single instruction and letting an agent handle planning, coding, testing, and opening a pull request. The article draws a clear distinction between 'Agentic Development Lifecycle,' where agents build software, and 'Agent Development Lifecycle' as used by IBM and LangChain, which refers to the process of developing the agents themselves. The concept aligns with a related framework published by Arthur AI in November 2025, which similarly emphasizes reduced manual planning in favour of continuous feedback loops and governance.