More About Software Requirements

Description

No matter how much instruction you’ve had on managing software requirements, there’s no substitute for experience. Too often, lessons about requirements engineering processes lack the no-nonsense guidance that supports real-world solutions. Complementing the best practices presented in his book, Software Requirements, Second Edition, requirements engineering authority Karl Wiegers tackles even more of the real issues head-on in this book.

 With straightforward, professional advice and practical solutions based on actual project experiences, this book answers many of the tough questions raised by industry professionals. From strategies for estimating and working with customers to the nuts and bolts of documenting requirements, this essential companion gives developers, analysts, and managers the cosmic truths that apply to virtually every software development project.

 Discover how to:

* Make the business case for investing in better requirements practices
* Generate estimates using three specific techniques
* Conduct inquiries to elicit meaningful business and user requirements
* Clearly document project scope
* Implement use cases, scenarios, and user stories effectively
* Improve inspections and peer reviews
* Write requirements that avoid ambiguity

CONTENTS:

Praise for More About Software Requirements: Thorny Issues and Practical Advice; Preface; Acknowledgments; Part I: On Essential Requirements Concepts; Chapter 1: Requirements Engineering Overview; "Requirement" Defined; Different Types of Requirements; Requirements Engineering Activities; Looking Ahead; Chapter 2: Cosmic Truths About Software Requirements; Requirements Realities; Requirements Stakeholders; Requirements Specifications; Part II: On the Management View of Requirements; Chapter 3: The Business Value of Better Requirements; Tell Me Where It Hurts; What Can Better Requirements Do for You?; The Investment; The Return; An Economic Argument; Chapter 4: How Long Do Requirements Take?; Industry Benchmarks; Your Own Experience; Incremental Approaches; Planning Elicitation; Chapter 5: Estimating Based on Requirements; Some Estimation Fundamentals; Estimation Approaches; Goals Aren’t Estimates; Estimating from Requirements; Measuring Software Size; Story Points; Use Case Points; Testable Requirements; The Reality of Estimation; Part III: On Customer Interactions; Chapter 6: The Myth of the On-Site Customer; User Classes and Product Champions; Surrogate Users; Now Hear This; Chapter 7: An Inquiry, Not an Inquisition; But First, Some Questions to Avoid; Questions for Eliciting Business Requirements; User Requirements and Use Cases; Questions for Eliciting User Requirements; Open-Ended Questions; Why Ask Why?; Chapter 8: Two Eyes Aren’t Enough; Improving Your Requirements Reviews; Part IV: On Use Cases; Chapter 9: Use Cases and Scenarios and Stories, Oh My!; Use Cases; Scenarios; User Stories; Chapter 10: Actors and Users; Chapter 11: When Use Cases Aren’t Enough; The Power of Use Cases; Project Type Limitations; Event-Response Tables; Use Cases Don’t Replace Functional Requirements; Use Cases Reveal Functional Requirements; Part V: On Writing Requirements; Chapter 12: Bridging Documents; Chapter 13: How Much Detail Do You Need?; Who Makes the Call?; When More Detail Is Needed; When Less Detail Is Appropriate; Implied Requirements; Sample Levels of Requirements Detail; Chapter 14: To Duplicate or Not to Duplicate; Cross-Referencing; Hyperlinks; Traceability Links; Recommendation; Chapter 15: Elements of Requirements Style; I Shall Call This a Requirement; System Perspective or User Perspective?; Parent and Child Requirements; What Was That Again?; Chapter 16: The Fuzzy Line Between Requirements and Design; Solution Ideas and Design Constraints; Solution Clues; Part VI: On the Requirements Process; Chapter 17: Defining Project Scope; Vision and Scope; Context Diagram; Use Case Diagram; Feature Levels; Managing Scope Creep; Chapter 18: The Line in the Sand; The Requirements Baseline; When to Baseline; Chapter 19: The Six Blind Men and the Requirements; Limitations of Natural Language; Some Alternative Requirements Views; Why Create Multiple Views?; Selecting Appropriate Views; Reconciling Multiple Views; Part VII: On Managing Requirements; Chapter 20: Handling Requirements for Multiple Releases; Single Requirements Specification; Multiple Requirements Specifications; Requirements Management Tools; Chapter 21: Business Requirements and Business Rules; Business Requirements; Business Rules; Business Rules and Software Requirements; Chapter 22: Measuring Requirements; Product Size; Requirements Quality; Requirements Status; Requests for Changes; Effort; Chapter 23: Exploiting Requirements Management Tools; Write Good Requirements First; Expect a Culture Change; Choose a Database-Centric or Document-Centric Tool; Don’t Create Too Many Requirement Types or Attributes; Train the Tool Users; Assign Responsibilities; Take Advantage of Tool Features; References; Appendix : About the Author;