Mastering the Requirements Process

Investigating the Work 87 in which we come to an understanding of what the business is doing, and start to think about what it might like to do Trawling the Business 87 Formality Guide 89 Trawl for Knowledge 89 The Business Analyst 91 Trawling and Business Use Cases 92 The Brown Cow Model 93 The Current Way of Doing Things (How-Now) 94 Apprenticing 98 Business Use Case Workshops 99 Interviewing the Stakeholders 102 Looking for Reusable Requirements 106 Quick and Dirty Process Modeling 107 Prototypes and Sketches 109 Mind Maps 116 The Murder Book 119 Video and Photographs 120 Wikis, Blogs, Discussion Forums 122 Document Archeology 123 Family Therapy 125 Choosing the Best Trawling Technique 125 Finally ... 127 Chapter 6: Scenarios 129 in which we look at scenarios, and how the business analyst uses them to communicate with the stakeholders Formality Guide 129 Scenarios 130 The Essence of the Business 135 Diagramming the Scenario 138 Alternatives 139 Exceptions 140 What if? Scenarios 142 Misuse Cases and Negative Scenarios 142 Scenario Template 143 Summary 145 Chapter 7: Understanding the Real Problem 147 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 Formality Guide 149 The Brown Cow Model: Thinking Above the Line 149 Solving the Right Problem 156 Moving into the Future 157 How to Be Innovative 160 Systemic Thinking 162 Value 165 Personas 166 Challenging Constraints 169 Innovation Workshops 171 Brainstorming 173 Back to the Future 174 Chapter 8: Starting the Solution 177 in which we bring the essence of the business into the technological world of the implementation Iterative Development 179 Essential Business 179 Determine the Extent of the Product 180 Consider the Users 181 Designing the User Experience 183 Innovation 184 Sketching the Interface 188 The Real Origin of the Business Event 189 Adjacent Systems and External Technology 190 Cost, Benefit, and Risks 194 Document Your Design Decisions 195 Product Use Case Scenarios 196 Putting It All Together 199 Chapter 9: Strategies for Today's Business Analyst 203 in which we consider strategies for the business analyst to guide requirements discovery in today's changing environments Balancing Knowledge, Activities, and People 204 Common Project Requirements Profiles 204 How Much Knowledge Is Needed Before Each Breakout? 205 External Strategy 206 Iterative Strategy 210 Sequential Strategy 212 Your Own Strategy 215 Sharpening Your Requirements Skills 215 Summary 222 Chapter 10: Functional Requirements 223 in which we look at those requirements that cause the product to do something Formality Guide 224 Functional Requirements 225 Uncovering the Functional Requirements 225 Level of Detail or Granularity 228 Description and Rationale 229 Data, Your Secret Weapon 231 Exceptions and Alternatives 233 Conditional Requirements 234 Avoiding Ambiguity 234 Technological Requirements 237 Grouping Requirements 237 Alternatives to Functional Requirements 238 Requirements for COTS 241 Summary 242 Chapter 11: Non-functional Requirements 245 in which we look at the requirements that specify how well your product does what it does An Introduction to Non-functional Requirements 246 Formality Guide 246 Functional Versus Non-functional Requirements 247 Use Cases and Non-functional Requirements 248 The Non-functional Requirements Types 249 Look and Feel Requirements: Type 10 250 Usability and Humanity Requirements: Type 11 253 Performance Requirements: Type 12 257 Operational and Environmental Requirements: Type 13 259 Maintainability and Support Requirements: Type 14 261 Security Requirements: Type 15 262 Cultural Requirements: Type 16 266 Legal Requirements: Type 17 268 Finding the Non-functional Requirements 271 Blogging the Requirements 271 Don't Write a Solution 276 Summary 277 Chapter 12: Fit Criteria and Rationale 279 in which we show how measuring requirements makes them unambiguous, understandable, communicable, and testable Formality Guide 280 Why Does Fit Need a Criterion? 280 The Rationale for the Rationale 282 Deriving Fit Criteria 284 Scale of Measurement 285 Fit Criteria for Non-functional Requirements 286 Fit Criteria for Functional Requirements 295 Forms of Fit Criteria 296 Use Cases and Fit Criteria 299 Fit Criterion for Project Purpose 299 Fit Criteria for Solution Constraints 300 Summary 301 Chapter 13: The Quality Gateway 303 in which we prevent unsuitable requirements from becoming part of the specification Formality Guide 304 Requirements Quality 305 Using the Quality Gateway 306 Within Scope? 307 Testing Completeness 311 Testing the Fit Criterion 312 Consistent Terminology 313 Viable within Constraints? 314 Requirement or Solution? 316 Requirement Value 316 Gold Plating 317 Requirements Creep 317 Implementing the Quality Gateway 319 Summary 321 Chapter 14: Requirements and Iterative Development 323 in which we look at how to discover and implement requirements in an iterative development environment The Need for Iterative Development 323 An Iterative Requirements Process 324 Business Value Analysis and Prioritization 327 How to Write a Good User Story 329 Iterative Requirements Roles 333 Summary 335 Chapter 15: Reusing Requirements 337 in which we look for requirements that have already been written and explore ways to make use of them What Is Reusing Requirements? 338 Sources of Reusable Requirements 341 Requirements Patterns 342 A Business Event Pattern 344 Forming Patterns by Abstracting 346 Domain Analysis 351 Summary 351 Chapter 16: Communicating the Requirements 353 in which we turn the requirements into communicable form Formality Guide 353 Turning Potential Requirements into Written Requirements 354 Knowledge Versus Specification 354 The Volere Requirements Specification Template 357 Discovering Atomic Requirements 359 Attributes of Atomic Requirements 361 Assembling the Specification 365 Automated Requirements Tools 366 Functional Requirements 367 Non-functional Requirements 368 Project Issues 369 Summary 369 Chapter 17: Requirements Completeness 371 in which we decide whether our specification is complete, and set the priorities of the requirements Formality Guide 372 Reviewing the Specification 373 Inspections 373 Find Missing Requirements 374 Have All Business Use Cases Been Discovered? 376 Prioritizing the Requirements 382 Conflicting Requirements 386 Ambiguous Specifications 388 Risk Assessment 388 Measure the Required Cost 391 Summary 391 Appendix A: Volere Requirements Specification Template 393 a guide for writing a rigorous and complete requirements specification Contents 393 Use of This Template 394 Volere 394 Requirements Types 395 Testing Requirements 396 Atomic Requirements Shell 396 1. The Purpose of the Project 397 2. The Stakeholders 400 3. Mandated Constraints 407 4. Naming Conventions and Terminology 415 5. Relevant Facts and Assumptions 416 6. The Scope of the Work 420 7. Business Data Model and Data Dictionary 425 8. The Scope of the Product 429 9. Functional and Data Requirements 433 Non-functional Requirements 435 10. Look and Feel Requirements 435 11. Usability and Humanity Requirements 437 12. Performance Requirements 441 13. Operational and Environmental Requirements 447 14. Maintainability and Support Requirements 449 15. Security Requirements 451 16. Cultural Requirements 454 17. Legal Requirements 455 Project Issues 457 18. Open Issues 457 19. Off-the-Shelf Solutions 458 20. New Problems 460 21. Tasks 462 22. Migration to the New Product 463 23. Risks 465 24. Costs 467 25. User Documentation and Training 468 26. Waiting Room 470 27. Ideas for Solutions 471 Appendix B: Stakeholder Management Templates 473 Stakeholder Map 473 Stakeholder Template 475 Appendix C: Function Point Counting: A Simplified Introduction 479 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 Measuring the Work 479 A Quick Primer on Counting Function Points 481 Counting Function Points for Business Use Cases 484 Counting the Stored Data 489 Adjust for What You Don't Know 492 Now That I Have Counted Function Points, What's Next? 492 Appendix D: Volere Requirements Knowledge Model 495 Definitions of Requirements Knowledge Classes and Associations 495 Glossary 511 Bibliography 517 Index 523