This paper is used to outline a relatively recent approach to the deve
lopment of software products. Practical experience of employing the tr
aditional waterfall lifecycle model, the Spiral Model and concurrent e
ngineering approaches in both small and large (pan-European) software
projects provide the foundation on which to present, discuss and propo
se a new lifecycle model; the Helical LifeCycle Approach. The authors
of the paper distinguish between prototypes, and model and postulate t
he need for the formalization of a new software engineering job role w
hich is focused around the Helical Project LifeCycle.