Software Requirements Essentials : Core Practices for Successful Business Analysis

20 Best Practices for Developing and Managing Requirements on Any Project Software Requirements Essentials presents 20 core practices for successful requirements planning, elicitation, analysis, specification, validation, and management. Leading requirements experts Karl Wiegers and Candase Hokanson focus on the practices most likely to deliver superior value for both traditional and agile projects, in any application domain. These core practices help teams understand business problems, engage the right participants, articulate better solutions, improve communication, implement the most valuable functionality in the right sequence, and adapt to change and growth. Concise and tightly focused, this book offers just enough pragmatic "how-to" detail for you to apply the core practices with confidence, whether you're a business analyst, requirements engineer, product manager, product owner, or developer. Using it, your entire team can build a shared understanding of key concepts, terminology, techniques, and rationales—and work together more effectively on every project. Learn how to: Clarify problems, define business objectives, and set solution boundaries Identify stakeholders and decision makers Explore user tasks, events, and responses Assess data concepts and relationships Elicit and evaluate quality attributes Analyze requirements and requirement sets, create models and prototypes, and set priorities Specify requirements in a consistent, structured, and well-documented fashion Review, test, and manage change to requirements "I once read the ten best-selling requirements engineering books of the prior ten years. This one book succinctly presents more useful information than those ten books combined." — Mike Cohn , author of User Stories Applied and co-founder, Scrum Alliance "Diamonds come about when a huge amount of carbon atoms are compressed. Karl and Candase have done something very similar: they have compressed their vast requirements knowledge into 20 gems they call 'core practices.' These practices are potent stuff, and I recommend that they become part of everyone's requirements arsenal." — James Robertson , author of Mastering the Requirements Process and Business Analysis Agility "Long story short: if you are going to read only one requirements book, this is it. Software Requirements Essentials distills the wealth of information found in Software Requirements and many other texts down to twenty of the most important requirements activities that apply on nearly all projects. Today's busy BA simply doesn't have the time to read a lengthy instructive guide front-to-back. But they should find the time to read this book." —From the Foreword by Joy Beatty , COO, ArgonDigital "Software Requirements Essentials will be a high-value addition to your business analysis library. Anyone looking to improve their business analysis practices will find great practical advice they'll be able to apply immediately." — Laura Paton , Principal Consultant, BA Academy, Inc. Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details. 1.Foreword 2 Acknowledgments About the Authors 4 1. Essentials of Software Requirements 1 Requirements Defined 2 Good Practices for Requirements Engineering 3 Who Does All This Stuff? 4 Some Recurrent Themes 5 The Life and Times of Requirements 6 Getting Started 7 2. Laying the Foundation 1 Practice #1. Understand the problem before converging on a solution. 2 Practice #2. Define business objectives. 3 Practice #3. Define the solution’s boundaries. 4 Practice #4. Identify and characterize stakeholders. 5 Practice #5. Identify empowered decision makers. 6 3. Requirements Elicitation 1 Practice #6. Understand what users need to do with the solution. 2 Practice #7. Identify events and responses. 3 Practice #8. Assess data concepts and relationships. 4 Practice #9. Elicit and evaluate quality attributes. 5 4. Requirements Analysis 1 Practice #10. Analyze requirements and requirement sets. 2 Practice #11. Create requirements models. 3 Practice #12. Create and evaluate prototypes. 4 Practice #13. Prioritize the requirements. 5 5. Requirements Specification 1 Practice #14. Write requirements in consistent ways. 2 Practice #15. Organize requirements in a structured fashion. 3 Practice #16. Identify and document business rules. 4 Practice #17. Create a glossary. 5 6. Requirements Validation 1 Practice #18. Review and test the requirements. 2 7. Requirements Management 1 Practice #19. Establish and manage requirements baselines. 2 Practice #20. Manage changes to requirements effectively. 3 Appendix: Summary of Practices Practices for Developing and Managing Requirements on Any Project. This book describes the twenty most important practices that help software teams create a set of requirements to serve as the foundation for the subsequent development work. These practices broadly apply regardless of the type of product the team is creating or their development approach. Some software teams work not on discrete development projects but on existing products that demand ongoing modifications and new functionality. The people who are responsible for requirements work on product teams like those will find the practices in this book equally applicable to their work.