How would you plan a project before software development life cycle kicks in?

"The whole thing took about two months. It opened with what felt more like a hiring manager chitchat than an interview, then moved into two compliance-heavy rounds. After that I had a two-day onsite with cross-functional people and a live case at the end. What surprised me was I went in expecting technical screens, but pretty much the whole loop was behavioral and execution focused around work I had already done. I never really felt caught off guard because they kept bringing it back to my own projects."