Software requirements : styles and techniques

"Software requirements - styles and techniques" is best book I have ever read on SW requirements. I fully recommend it to anyone involved in requirements analysis. Not a "theoretical" book but one with great practical information. It has also fulll examples of requirement specs! I invite anyone interested in taking look at slides that are available in author's website. They give you an good overview on books value. When I saw these slides and "Task & Support" requirements style I just had to buy this book. I am not involved in any way with the author. I just want to give this good review because I feel the book can FINALLY shed light on requirements analysis with CONCRETE examples of requirements and not just some academic theories.

Most IT systems fail to meet expectations. They don't meet business goals and don't support users efficiently. Why? Because the requirements didn't address the right issues. Writing a good requirements specification doesn't take more time. This book shows how it¿s done - many times faster and many times smarter.

What are the highlights?

• Two complete real-life requirements specifications (the traditional and the fast approach) and examples from many others.
• Explanations of both traditional and fast approaches, and discussions of their strengths and weaknesses in different project types (tailor-made, COTS, and product development).
• Real-life illustrations of all types of requirements, stakeholder analysis, cost/benefit and other techniques to ensure that business goals are met.
• Proven methods for dealing with difficult or complex requirements, such as specifying ease-of-use, or dealing with 200 reports that might be needed because they are in the old system.

Who is it for? Everyone involved in the software supply chain, from analysts and developers to end users, will learn new techniques, benefit from requirements written by other specialists, and discover successes and failures from other companies. Software suppliers

will find ideas for helping customers and writing competitive proposals. Programmers and other developers will learn how to express requirements without specifying technical details, and how to reduce risks when developing a system. Students aspiring to IT careers will learn the theory and practice of requirements engineering, and get a strong foundation for case studies and projects. Who is the author? Soren Lauesen is currently professor at the IT-University of Copenhagen. He has worked in the IT industry for 20 years and has been a professor at Copenhagen Business School for 15. He has been co-founder of three educational and two industrial development organizations. His industry projects have encompassed compilers, operating systems, process control, temporal databases, and software quality assurance. His research interests include human-computer interaction, requirements specification, object-oriented design, quality assurance, marketing and product development, and interaction between research and industry. He has a broad range of other interests ranging from biology to dancing and foreign cultures.

Most IT systems fail to meet expectations. They don't meet business goals and don't support users efficiently. Why? Because the requirements didn't address the right issues. Writing a good requirements specification doesn't take more time. This book shows how it's done - many times faster and many times smarter. What are the highlights? Two complete real-life requirements specifications (the traditional and the fast approach) and examples from many others. Explanations of both traditional and fast approaches, and discussions of their strengths and weaknesses in different project types (tailor-made, COTS, and product development). Real-life illustrations of all types of requirements, stakeholder analysis, cost/benefit and other techniques to ensure that business goals are met. Proven methods for dealing with difficult or complex requirements, such as specifying ease-of-use, or dealing with 200 reports that might be needed because they are in the old system. Who is it for? Everyone involved in the software supply chain, from analysts and developers to end users, will learn new techniques, benefit from requirements written by other specialists, and discover successes and failures from other companies. Software suppliers will find ideas for helping customers and writing competitive proposals. Programmers and other developers will learn how to express requirements without specifying technical details, and how to reduce risks when developing a system. Students aspiring to IT careers will learn the theory and practice of requirements engineering, and get a strong foundation for case studies and projects. Who is the author? Soren Lauesen is currently professor at the IT-University of Copenhagen. He has worked in the IT industry for 20 years and has been a professor at Copenhagen Business School for 15. He has been co-founder of three educational and two industrial development organizations. His industry projects have encompassed compilers, operating systems, process control, temporal databases, and software quality assurance. His research interests include human-computer interaction, requirements specification, object-oriented design, quality assurance, marketing and product development, and interaction between research and industry. He has a broad range of other interests ranging from biology to dancing and foreign cultures -- Ask the right questions -- and get the answers you need to build effective, robust software systems.-- Practical answers to questions about prototyping, appropriate levels of detail, requirements formats, and more.-- Solutions for a wide variety of development projects, from in-house to COTS.Software developers have come to realize that accurate, detailed requirements are crucial to ensure the success of virtually any project. Now, one of the world's leading requirements experts offers a comprehensive guide to using requirements effectively. Soren Lauesen presents proven styles and techniques, and shares his extensive experience with what works -- and what doesn't. Software Requirements shows developers what questions to ask their customers -- and how to transform the answers into requirements documents that shows customers exactly what their software will do, and give developers a comprehensive blueprint for their work. Lauesen helps developers understand the pros and cons of several leading techniques for defining and expressing requirements, comparing their suitability for a wide variety of projects, including in-house and commercial off-the-shelf projects. He answers key questions that arise in many software projects, including: How and when should we prototype? How can we capture all essential requirements without "over-specifying"? The book includes extensive real-world examples, as well as detailed coverage of process. For all software developers, systems engineers, analysts, project managers, and other IT professionals who want to strengthen their skills in defining accurate software requirements. Most IT systems fail to meet expectations. They don't meet business goals and don't support users efficiently. Why? Because the requirements didn't address the right issues. Writing a good requirements specification doesn't take more time. This book shows how it is done - many times faster and many times smarter. This book covers many aspects of requirements. Traditional and more cost/effective ways of expressing requirements. Ways of gathering, verifying, and maintaining requirements; ways of getting commitment from the stakeholders and support - yet limit - innovation; ways of ensuring that you meet your business goals. It discusses the styles and techniques useful for different project types, for instance software developed specifically for the customer, software bought off-the shelf and adapted for the customer (COTS), and software developed for a broad market. The book illustrates everything through real-life examples. It also deals with difficult requirements, for instance how to specify ease-of-use, how to specify very complex computations, and how to deal with 200 reports that the old system has, and the new system may or may not need. The book shows two complete, real-life specifications and large parts of several others. It also has exercises and figures for presentation. 01Prelims......Page 2 02Chap01......Page 16 03Chap02......Page 56 04Chap03......Page 86 05Chap04......Page 168 06Chap05......Page 210 07Chap06......Page 232 08Chap07......Page 304 09Chap08......Page 346 10Chap09......Page 388 11Chap10......Page 414 12Chap11......Page 454 13Chap12......Page 506 14Chap13......Page 526 15Chap14......Page 534 16Chap15......Page 544 17Chap16......Page 556 18Chap17......Page 576 19Index......Page 590