Mastering the Requirements Process: Getting Requirements Right, 3rd Edition

“If the purpose is to create one of the best books on requirements yet written, the authors have succeeded.”

—Capers Jones

Software can solve almost any problem. The trick is knowing what the problem is. With about half of all software errors originating in the requirements activity, it is clear that a better understanding of the problem is needed.

Getting the requirements right is crucial if we are to build systems that best meet our needs. We know, beyond doubt, that the right requirements produce an end result that is as innovative and beneficial as it can be, and that system development is both effective and efficient.

Mastering the Requirements Process: Getting Requirements Right, Third Edition, sets out an industry-proven process for gathering and verifying requirements, regardless of whether you work in a traditional or agile development environment. In this sweeping update of the bestselling guide, the authors show how to discover precisely what the customer wants and needs, in the most efficient manner possible.

Features include

• The Volere requirements process for discovering requirements, for use with both traditional and iterative environments
• A specification template that can be used as the basis for your own requirements specifications
• Formality guides that help you funnel your efforts into only the requirements work needed for your particular development environment and project
• How to make requirements testable using fit criteria
• Checklists to help identify stakeholders, users, non-functional requirements, and more
• Methods for reusing requirements and requirements patterns

New features include

• Strategy guides for different environments, including outsourcing
• Strategies for gathering and implementing requirements for iterative releases
• “Thinking above the line” to find the real problem
• How to move from requirements to finding the right solution
• The Brown Cow model for clearer viewpoints of the system
• Using story cards as requirements
• Using the Volere Knowledge Model to help record and communicate requirements
• Fundamental truths about requirements and system development

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Some Fundamental Truths: In Which We Consider The Essential Contribution Of Requirements
Chapter 2 The Requirements Process: In Which We Present A Process For Discovering Requirements And Discuss How You Might Use It
Chapter 3 Scoping The Business Problem: In Which We Establish A Definition Of The Business Area To Be Changed, Thereby Ensuring That The Project Team Has A Clear Vision Of What Their Project Is Meant To Achieve
Chapter 4 Business Use Cases: In Which We Discuss A Fail-Safe Way Of Partitioning The Work And So Smooth The Way For Your Requirements Investigation
Chapter 5 Investigating The Work: In Which We Come To An Understanding Of What The Business Is Doing, And Start To Think About What It Might Like To Do
Chapter 6 Scenarios: In Which We Look At Scenarios, And How The Business Analyst Uses Them To Communicate With The Stakeholders
Chapter 7 Understanding The Real Problem: In Which We “Think Above The Line” To Find The True Essence Of The Business, And So Deliver The Right Product—One That Solves The Right Problem
Chapter 8 Starting The Solution: In Which We Bring The Essence Of The Business Into The Technological World Of The Implementation
Chapter 9 Strategies For Today’S Business Analyst: In Which We Consider Strategies For The Business Analyst To Guide Requirements Discovery In Today’S Changing Environments
Chapter 10 Functional Requirements: In Which We Look At Those Requirements That Cause The Product To Do Something
Chapter 11 Non-Functional Requirements: In Which We Look At The Requirements That Specify How Well Your Product Does What It Does
Chapter 12 Fit Criteria And Rationale: In Which We Show How Measuring Requirements Makes Them Unambiguous, Understandable, Communicable, And Testable
Chapter 13 The Quality Gateway: In Which We Prevent Unsuitable Requirements From Becoming Part Of The Specification
Chapter 14 Requirements And Iterative Development: In Which We Look At How To Discover And Implement Requirements In An Iterative Development Environment
Chapter 15 Reusing Requirements: In Which We Look For Requirements That Have Already Been Written And Explore Ways To Make Use Of Them
Chapter 16 Communicating The Requirements: In Which We Turn The Requirements Into Communicable Form
Chapter 17 Requirements Completeness: In Which We Decide Whether Our Specification Is Complete, And Set The Priorities Of The Requirements
Appendix A: Volere Requirements Specification Template: a guide for writing a rigorous and complete requirements specification
Appendix B: Stakeholder Management Templates
Appendix C: Function Point Counting: A Simplified Introduction: in which we look at a way to accurately measure the size or functionality of the work area, with a view toward using the measurement to estimate the requirements effort
Appendix D: Volere Requirements Knowledge Model