The Requirements Engineering Handbook (Artech House Technology Management and Professional Development Library) [Kindle Edition]

The REH discusses the roles, skills, and characteristics a Requirements Analyst (RA) needs to be effective. It defines over 20 types of requirements, and tells you how to gather and manage them. Like Steve McConnell does in his excellent project management books, Ralph Young sets all of this in a context that helps if you're using the CMMI, but doesn't require it. He also adds case studies and sidebar commentaries from both luminaries and run-of-the mill RAs (which helped convince me I could really do this stuff on my project!)

Like ERP, REH is extensively footnoted, with a very complete and current set of references & URLs that makes it essentially an index into the requirements body of knowledge. This Handbook is concise (215 pp, plus glossary & 10 pg bibliography), so when looking for references, it's sometimes even faster than Google, because you get several footnotes that summarize the most appropriate literature, and help you get directly to relevant additional sources.

You don't get a CD like ERP had, but many of the techniques reference templates or guides that can be freely downloaded from the author's website. It's an easy read, and nicely laid out so you can find things when thumbing through. Good Stuff!

Each of the requirements books I own provides some useful information in a particular situation, but Dr. Young's Requirements Engineering Handbook is the only complete program building book on requirements engineering that I have seen. If I were charged with starting a new Requirements Engineering program somewhere and could take only one book with me; it would be The Requirements Engineering Handbook by Ralph R. Young.

Need to write a position description for your Requirements Manager - its in there. Need to define the milestones for your Requirements Team - its in there. Need to share with your boss case studies of what happens if your project does NOT implement a specific requirements processes - its in there.

My ROI for this handbook has been 3:1. For every hour have I spent reading, I save at least 3 hours as I write job descriptions, GANTT charts, etc. I could reproduce some of the information in the handbook based on my 20 years of project experience, but not as well and not nearly as fast.

I recommend this handbook to Project or Requirements Managers who need to plan for and implement a successful requirement phase in record time. Good luck!