Agile Software Requirements: Lean Requirements Practices for Teams, Programs, and the Enterprise

Description

We need better approaches to understanding and managing software requirements, and Dean provides them in this book. He draws ideas from three very useful intellectual pools: classical management practices, Agile methods, and lean product development. By combining the strengths of these three approaches, he has produced something that works better than any one in isolation.

 - From the Foreword by Don Reinertsen, President of Reinertsen & Associates; author of Managing the Design Factory; and leading expert on rapid product development

Effective requirements discovery and analysis is a critical best practice for serious application development. Until now, however, requirements and Agile methods have rarely coexisted peacefully. For many enterprises considering Agile approaches, the absence of effective and scalable Agile requirements processes has been a showstopper for Agile adoption. In Agile Software Requirements, Dean Leffingwell shows exactly how to create effective requirements in Agile environments.

* Part I presents the big picture of Agile requirements in the enterprise, and describes an overall process model for Agile requirements at the project team, program, and portfolio levels
* Part II describes a simple and lightweight, yet comprehensive model that Agile project teams can use to manage requirements
* Part III shows how to develop Agile requirements for complex systems that require the cooperation of multiple teams
* Part IV guides enterprises in developing Agile requirements for ever-larger systems of systems, application suites, and product portfolios

This book will help you leverage the benefits of Agile without sacrificing the value of effective requirements discovery and analysis. You'll find proven solutions you can apply right now - whether you're a software developer or tester, executive, project/program manager, architect, or team leader.

CONTENTS:

Foreword xxiii

Preface xxvii

Acknowledgments xxxiii

About the Author xxxv

The Big Picture Explained 32

Introduction to the Team Level 47

Introduction to the Program Level 63

Introduction to the Portfolio Level 83

Background for the Case Study 93

Introduction 99

Stakeholders 119

Introduction 135

Iterating: The Heartbeat of Agility 155

Why Write About Testing in an Agile Requirements Book? 183

Is This a New Role? 201

The Requirements Workshop 228

Vision 251

Product Manager, Business Analyst? 276

Introduction to the Agile Release Train 300

Preparing for Release Planning 319

Modeling Nonfunctional Requirements 340

Activity Diagrams 357

The Problems with User Stories and Backlog Items 368

Introduction to the Portfolio Level of the Big Picture 383

Architectural Epic Kanban System 408

Portfolio Management 429

Investment Themes 450

Further Information 470