Use Cases: Requirements in Context (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Eamonn Guiney (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Text describes how to gether and define software requirements using a process based on use cases. Show systems analysts and designers how use cases can provide solutions to the most challenging requirements issues; resulting in effective, quality systems that meet the needs of users. Previous ed: c2000. Softcover. DLC: System design.

From the Inside Flap

Use Cases: Requirements in Context came about, as most books probably

do, as the result of a complaint. We felt that there weren't any good books

that addressed use cases for requirements gathering. It seemed that a lot of

people agreed that use cases were a perfectly good tool to solve the requirements

problem, but no one had put down on paper any detailed process to help people

understand how to use them this way. In fact, even as we write today, in late

1999, there is no book of this sort that we know of.

Requirements gathering has been a problem on almost every project we've been

involved with. The fuzzy nature of requirements makes working with them slippery

and unintuitive for most software analysts. Use cases are the first tool we've

seen that addresses the specification and communication concerns usually associated

with requirements gathering.

Although use cases in themselves are quite intuitive, the process around them

is often done poorly. The questions that people have--How many iterations do

I do? How fine-grained should a use case be?--are not answered or even addressed

in most texts. This is probably because they are hard questions and the answers

can vary greatly from one situation to another. However, they are important

questions, and we decided to describe our own best practices as a first volley

in what we hope will become a spirited industry dialog on how to generate requirements

that will address user needs.

Use Cases: Requirements in Context is a practical book for the everyday

practitioner. As consultants in the information technology industry, we employ

use cases to specify business systems as part of our daily lives. We think we

understand the issues facing people when they deliver software using tools such

as the Unified Modeling Language and use cases. Our main intent is not to describe

use case notation, although we do address that. Instead, we show a requirements

process that addresses requirements gathering in a way that produces quality

results.

While writing, we considered the factors that cause problems in requirements

gathering, and we developed a use case method for delivering a requirements-oriented

set of deliverables. The methodology breaks down the activity of producing requirements

into a series of steps, and it answers the questions that usually come up when

people employ use cases. This book relates directly to the real work of delivering

a specification, managing that effort with a team, and getting the most bang

for your buck.

The sample use cases and use case diagrams that appear throughout the book

are also presented in Appendixes B and C. These appendixes demonstrate the development

of the use cases and other requirements analysis artifacts through each phase

of their development. Appendix B documents a business system for real estate,

and Appendix C documents a business system for the garment industry.

We hope you enjoy this book. It was a labor of love for us. This is a process

that works well for us. If it works for you, too, that's great. If it doesn't,

perhaps you can adapt some of the tools, ideas, or suggestions to your own way

of addressing the requirements problem.

0201657678P04062001 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 2 edition (August 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321154983
• ISBN-13: 978-0321154989
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #348,255 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Use Cases, January 11, 2001

By	R. Williams "code slubber" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Use Cases: Requirements in Context (Paperback)

The best thing about this book is that the authors are not meekly presenting just a stream of bland bromides that echo the sentiments of a million other talking heads. On the contrary, they are quite opinionated and their opinions often illuminate some of the most important issues in the whole raging process debate. Specifically, their discussion of the uselessness of requirements that just appear as a gigantic list of commandments is truly on target. (The writers espouse attaching requirements to the appropriate [and specific] use case.) They also do a good job of dealing with the issue of scope and developing use cases for specific uses. Everyone who's read about use cases has confronted the issue of how to 'refine' them but this book does a better job than most at underlining the importance of scope in the iterative process.

The downsides of this book (IMHO) are:

1. The diagrams are all very simplistic. There really is no point in using a pictographic medium if there's nothing there.

2. The models that are talked about are also too simplistic (but I say that about every book).

3. There is a little bit of smugness about how *their* way is the sane and obvious answer to all that ails developers.

Still, I think this is one of the best Use Case books out there.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Use Case Book I've Read So Far, February 12, 2002

By	Laus Deo (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use Cases: Requirements in Context (Paperback)

Programmers naturally hate use cases. They seem boring, and having seen hundreds of them (written by others and handed to me) over the years, I had lost hope that this practice would ever be of any benefit. I had grown tired of constantly reading varying levels of abstraction and `use-case-itis'. All this, despite the fact that Jacobson's original work and the UDP incorporation of use cases as central to that process was clearly a better way to go than wading through hundreds, sometimes thousands of pages of `shall' statements that accompany most projects (and too often, lead to their failure).

Then I read this book. I now use it regularly in every requirements-related class I teach, and I tell every programmer I meet to buy this book. Imagine a use case book that programmers can actually get excited about! This book blazes new territory and its practical insights and humor make it a fun read, as well.

Here are the great highlights:
1. Properly scoping and relating use cases
2. Introducing Business Rules as 'first-class citizens"
3. Applying UDP iterations to the use case development process.

These last two items make the book stand out. Understanding the importance of business rules as enterprise-wide invariants that span use cases is ground-breaking. The four UDP iterations are ingenious because they can help to enforce the proper level of abstraction, which is a big problem area for use cases. Try it, you'll like it!

In addition, the book is loaded with great practical advice and examples of good (and bad!) use case text. And finally, the authors present the most compelling arguments I've ever heard for ditching traditional requirements-gathering methods (which have clearly FAILED), because use cases are, after all, requirements IN CONTEXT (like the title says). If every use case writer read this book and followed it's advice, the software crisis would be dealt a serious blow.

Bottom line : If you write use cases (or worse, are forced to implement bad use cases at gunpoint), get this book!

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very practical applications and examples, July 21, 2000

By	Alex Rush (San Rafael, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Use Cases: Requirements in Context (Paperback)

I've been involved in Use Case development and Requirements Management for several years, and this book is a welcome addition to my library. Its the first book I've found on the subject of requirements definition that's truly a non-nonsense, pragramtic guide that offers immediate application to common requirements definition and change management problems.