This practice spans two phases of software development: development and maintenance.

The practice applies to all projects.

• 5.1. Planning and designing for maintainability
• 5.2. Handling of maintenance issues

1. Include maintenance-related activities in the development cycle
   
   1. Define the scope and responsibilities for managing the maintenance-related activities
   2. Decide between a fixed-time or fixed-scope strategy for maintenance
   3. Perform maintenance before implementing new features in the development cycle

1. Maintenance activities are not performed or performed irregularly/ad-hoc
   
   1. The project becomes unmaintainable
   2. Development is not linked with maintenance