Typically, application development is a process that directs the phases from requirements gathering to deployment of the application. There are different kinds of development methodologies, which are currently used in the software development industry, for example, Rational Unified Process (RUP), waterfall model, spiral model, and agile methodology. You are allowed to use any of these methodologies for the Force.com application development.
According to the complexity of the application, your development methodology can be simple or complex. However, we can use the following typical development cycle for Force.com application development:
Create a development environment
Develop using Salesforce web and local tools
Test within the development environment
Replicate production changes in the development environment
Deploy what you have developed to your production organization
The Force.com platform provides the facility of creating Force.com organizations...