Succeeding with Use Cases: Working Smart to Deliver Quality (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series) (Paperback)

by Richard Denney (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Build on Use Cases to Deliver Higher-Quality, Higher-Value Software

You can dramatically improve software quality and value by integrating use cases with best-practice software quality engineering disciplines.

Richard Denney presents practical, cost-effective techniques that help your entire development organization deliver superior software.

Using realistic examples, Denney demonstrates how to complement use cases with Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Software Reliability Engineering (SRE), Model-Based Specification (preconditions, postconditions, and invariants), Requirements Configuration Management, and Project Portfolio Management. Denney's techniques address challenges faced by project and product managers, team leads, developers, designers, software engineers, and testers alike. These techniques offer immense value no matter what methodology you use—from the Unified Process to Extreme Programming.

• Use QFD to make sure you release products that are true to your business drivers

• Drive your project's vision vertically, from senior management and marketing to the development team

• Align/synchronize distributed development horizontally across component teams, product teams, and business groups

• Use SRE to maximize reliability and customer satisfaction—while minimizing engineering costs

• Build use case operational profiles that help you spend development dollars more intelligently

• Get solid metrics that tell you when it's time to stop testing

• Use Model-Based Specification to sharpen your analysis of potential failures

• Understand precondition and postcondition realities they never mentioned in "Use Case 101"

• Design effective test cases using preconditions, postconditions, and invariants

• Use Configuration Management of Use Cases to help your company work smarter

• Leverage use cases in Project Portfolio Management—quite possibly the most valuable process improvement you can make

• Calculate ROI on your company's investments in a requirements management tool and process

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Richard Denney is a software quality consultant with more than twenty-five years of experience in software development and process management. Denney has been a principal in process improvements for the oil industry's two largest suppliers of software solutions, Schlumberger and Landmark Graphics (a Halliburton company), and as an affiliate consultant with TeraQuest Metrics, Inc. (part of Borland Software Corporation). Based in Austin, TX, Denney holds B.A. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin, and is certified through the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA). For supplemental information or to contact the author, visit http://www.software-quality-consulting.com.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional (May 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321316436
• ISBN-13: 978-0321316431
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #852,423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical and Insightful Advice, January 3, 2006

By	Scott W. Ambler "Author, Agile Database Techn... (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

When I first picked up this book, my initial reaction was "Great, just what the world needs, yet another book about use cases." Then I noticed the subtitle, Working Smart to Deliver Quality, and thought I should invest a few minutes looking it over. I'm glad that I did. Perusing the table of contents, I noticed sections entitled "Planning the Length of Iterations and Number of Use Cases in Distributed Software Development", "Setting a Failure Intensity Objective", and "Savings from Avoiding Cost of Unnecessary Development" and realized that this was more than just another use case book. Denney provides real world advice, based on his more than 25 years of experience in software development, for how to apply use cases effectively in practice. For anyone wanting to improve their use case writing skills, his insights on preconditions, postconditions, and invariants is well worth the investment in this book. For project managers, Denney's advice for estimating and scheduling based on use cases is both practical and insightful.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Synthesis of Use Cases and Soft. Rel. Engineering, June 6, 2005

By	John D. Musa "SRE author" (Morristown, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As a specialist in the field of software reliability engineering, I have always felt that there were many fruitful relationships between use cases and software reliability engineering. Now Richard Denney focuses on these in his excellent new book Succeeding with Use Cases. I was impressed by the user-driven approach and the bridge Denney provides over the language gap between the business orientation of management and the technical orientation of software developers. The book is readable, practical, and filled with examples. It should be required reading for anyone working with use cases.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Practical methodology for software architects, August 23, 2007

By	E. Nellen - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm a software engineer, specializing in requirements and software quality. I've known about QFD and the House of Quality for over a decade, and I've been using Use Case methodology for years. This is the first (and perhaps the only) book which combines the two methodologies and explains in a straightforward yet sufficiently detailed way how to use these methodologies. If you are struggling with many requests from multiple customers and are trying to identify what is really important, you should read this book. In particular, if you want to satisfy the customers who drive your business, i.e., generate revenue, you need to read this book. This is a low-tech approach; all you need is a spreadsheet. Understanding Use Cases, QFD, or House of Quality is not a prerequisite. Even if you are already familiar with these methodologies, I think you will still learn a lot from this excellent book.