The Unified Process Explained [Paperback]

Kendall Scott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0201742047 | ISBN-13: 978-0201742046 | Publication Date: December 6, 2001 | Edition: 1

For software developers seeking a more effective approach to design and analysis, the Rational Unified Process (RUP) combines the best ideas from several market-leading analysis and design methodologies, together with best practices proven in real-world enterprise projects. However, many developers and managers find RUP overwhelming when they first encounter it. In this book, Kendall Scott simplifies RUP, scaling it down and organizing it into bite-size chunks that are easy to understand -- and use. The author begins with an overview of RUP, presenting a nutshell description, history, major themes, and key terminology. Next, he introduces each of RUP's five workflows -- Requirements, Analysis, Design, Implementation, and Test -- covering goals, roles, activities, artifacts, and more. Each Activity is illuminated with a diagram clearly explaining its nonlinear nature. Scott details the Inception, Elaboration, and Construction phases of the RUP process, culminating in a description of the Transition phase, in which the project team rolls out its system to customers. From start to finish, Scott relies on the same Internet Bookstore case study that he has used successfully in his best-selling UML Explained. For all software engineers, developers, analysts, architects, project and IT managers seeking to optimize their software development processes; and for every IT professional using or considering RUP.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Rational Unified Process (RUP) has been widely adopted across the software industry. However, many software developers and managers--especially those working in medium-to-small development organizations--are hesitant to delve into this seemingly complex and time-consuming topic.

The Unified Process Explained is a concise, accessible, and practical guide that's meant to help significantly shorten the learning curve for practitioners unfamiliar with this methodology. It explains the essentials of the Unified Process (the RUP's core elements), guides you through the process step-by-step, and shows how you can put the methodology to work on your next project.

The book starts with a useful overview of the history, motivation, key concepts, and terminology of the Unified Process. The author then details the five pillars of development: requirements, analysis, design, implementation, and test workflows. In addition, the book enumerates the four phases of Unified Process development: inception, elaboration, construction, and transition; and it shows how the workflows are integrated into these phases. In laying out the details of this integration, the book illustrates the Unified Process's most useful feature--its iterative nature.

With this book as your guide, you will gain an understanding of important concepts and activities such as:

• Iterations and increments
• Business and domain modeling
• Identifying actors and use cases
• Prototyping the user interface
• Robustness analysis
• Design and deployment models
• Statechart and activity diagrams
• Implementation models

A large-scale example of an Internet bookstore runs throughout the book to illustrate concepts and techniques. The industry-standard Unified Modeling Language is used to express structure and function. The Unified Process Explained demystifies this valuable methodology and will lead you on your way to successfully applying the Rational Unified Process.

0201742047B11142001

About the Author

Kendall Scott is a UML trainer and consultant. With more than sixteen years of experience as a technical writer, he is skilled in converting complex, technical material into understandable and easy-to-use manuals.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 1 edition (December 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201742047
• ISBN-13: 978-0201742046
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,251,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should be widely read by software developers, May 25, 2002

By 

"christopher_nguyen" (Redwood Shores, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unified Process Explained (Paperback)

This book solves a very basic problem with the Rational Unified Process: its apparent mystery and complexity.

You see, Rational's own documentation tends to be overly academic and self-referential, meaning it uses its own lingo heavily to explain the lingo. This serves well as a reference to a practitioner, but no good as an introduction. And you can't get your whole team, much less your customer, to read thick documentation. You can do an overview presentation for the customer, but I believe team members need much greater understanding of the methodology, and they need it *now*, beforehand, not discovering it as they go.

Scott cuts through and succinctly but thoroughly present RUP in about 160 pages. He does this in a consistent, deliberate format. This can be scanned page-by-page in less than 30 minutes by every development team member, and the benefits can be enormous.

In my experience, RUP practitioners tend to be one of two types: overly zealous or overly loose. The former regards the process as a set of decree laws around which everyone, including the customers must suffer. The latter, well. This is unfortunate and is usually the result of the team's insufficient buy-in and understanding of the role of a development methodology like RUP. If Scott's explanations are more widely read and understood, more teams would apply the principles more appropriately and produce better results. This book makes this understanding much easier to achieve. I know I'm getting my whole team to read this.

The bief end sections comparing RUP with Extreme Programming and ICONIX are very helpful in putting all 3 in perspective, again in a clear, demystifying approach.

A minor improvement would have been to present the four phases and five workflows TOGETHER on a few typical visual graphics. He describes them in words as "cuts-through" in a "matrix" but this isn't very helpful, unless of course you already know what he means.

4.0 out of 5 stars Read this and you will know what the unified process is, May 12, 2002

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unified Process Explained (Paperback)

Like the Unified Modeling Language (UML), the Rational Unified Process or RUP can be intimidating when first encountered. However, there are simple, introductory books describing them and Scott is the author for the best in each category. In this book, you are gently led through the four phases of each cycle: inception, elaboration, construction and transition.
The inception phase is where the case for the viability of the proposed system is put forward and properly answered, although it is not necessary to finalize all the requirements. Basically, this phase ends with a go/no go decision. Once the go decision is made, then the purpose of the elaboration phase is to establish whether your organization is capable or can be made capable of building the proposed project. It is here where the specifications are finalized and the final decision is made whether to proceed with the development. The construction phase is where the building takes place using the modern techniques of iterative, incremental development. Finally, the transition phase is when the final bug fixes are done and the product placed in the hands of the customers.
Each phase is characterized by a major milestone. For the inception phase, it is the lifecycle objectives, where the business case is proven strong enough to justify moving on to the next phase rather than terminating the project. The milestone of the elaboration phase is the life-cycle architecture, which is where the main functional requirements have been set down and the initial plan for the construction phase has been developed. The major milestone of the construction phase is when a more-or-less functional beta version of the software is in the hands of customers for evaluation. Finally, the major milestone for the transition phase is that magic moment known as the product release. All of these phases and milestones are described in detail, albeit in simplified form, as befits a primer.
Five workflows are continuous throughout the development cycle: requirements, analysis, design, implementation and test. Those early in the list are more prominent at the beginning and then fade to almost nothing at the point of release. The workflows at the end of the list start at almost nothing and rise to prominence at the end of the cycle. This natural progression is yet another way to verify that the project is healthy.
Written at a level that is easily accessible to managers, this book can also serve as an introduction for developers. If you are investigating or are planning on using the RUP in your development projects, then this book is the place you should start. Easy to follow, it will show you the basics of what you are getting yourself into.