- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Dorling Kindersley Pvt Ltd; 1st edition (1 Dec 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 8177589075
- ISBN-13: 978-8177589078
- Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 18.4 x 1.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,482,113 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Alistair Cockburn's Writing Effective Use Cases is an approachable, informative, and very intelligent treatment of an essential topic of software design. "Use cases" describe how "actors" interact with computer systems and are essential to software-modelling requirements. For anyone who designs software, this title offers some real insight into writing use cases that are clear and correct and lead to better and less costly software.
The focus of this text is on use cases that are written as opposed to modelled in UML. This book may change your mind about the advantages of writing step-by-step descriptions of the way users (or actors) interact with systems. Besides being an exceptionally clear writer, the author has plenty to say about what works and what doesn't when it comes to creating use cases. There are several standout bits of expertise on display here, including excellent techniques for finding the right "scope" for use cases. (The book uses a colour scheme in which blue indicates a sea-level use case that's just right while higher-level use cases are white and over-detailed ones are indigo. It also provides notational symbols to document these levels of detail within a design.)
This book contains numerous tips on the writing style for use cases and plenty of practical advice for managing projects that require a large number of use cases. One particular strength lies in the numerous actual use cases (many with impressive detail) borrowed from real-world projects that demonstrate both good and bad practices. Even though the author expresses a preferences for the format of use cases, he presents a variety of styles, including UML graphical versions. The explanation of how use cases fit into the rest of the software engineering process is especially good. The book concludes with several dozen concrete tips for writing better use cases.
Software engineering books often get bogged down in theory. Not so in Writing Effective Use Cases, a slender volume with a practical focus, a concise presentation style, and something truly valuable to say. This book will benefit most anyone who designs software for a living. --Richard Dragan --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Product Description
Use cases have never been this easy to understand -- or this easy to create! In Writing Effective Use Cases, Alistair Cockburn offers a hands-on, soup-to-nuts guide to use case development, based on the proven concepts he has refined through years of research, development, and seminar presentations. Cockburn begins by answering the most basic questions facing anyone interested in use cases: "What does a use case look like? When do I write one?" Next, he introduces each key element of use cases: actors, stakeholders, design scope, goal levels, scenarios, and more. Writing Effective Use Cases contains detailed guidelines, formats, and project standards for creating use cases -- as well as a detailed chapter on style, containing specific do's and don'ts. Cockburn shows how use cases fit together with requirements gathering, business processing reengineering, and other key issues facing software professionals. The book includes practice exercises with solutions, as well as a detailed appendix on how to use these techniques with UML. For all application developers, object technology practitioners, software system designers, architects, and analysts.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I was disappointed to see that the previous reviewer thought so little of this book. Personally, I thought it was excellent. As a systems analyst, I need to employ use cases as a way for users to understand how they would use the system - in 'everyday' language. I thought this is precisely the reason why the book was written. Rarely can I get users interested in state diagrams, event/action analysis etc. Users that have this ability don't need use cases:-)
Also, I felt Cockburn clearly explained where use cases sit with regard to other requirement types. If you want a good book that shows you how to write behavioral requirements in 'user-speak', this is the one!
I think there are many good books, which show how to take use cases down to a more formal representation for development purposes. "Applying UML and Patterns" by Craig Larman , Second edition is one of them. In it, he describes the refinement of a use case into system contracts with pre-post conditions, static model etc. Another great book!
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read a number of books about modelling requirements on the back of endorsements such as "It's the industry bible for X". Writing Effective Use Cases was similarly recommended to me.
Having read it I can only wholeheartedly agree. It is well written, the lessons coming to life through numerous real-world examples and summaries for busy readers. There is plenty of content here, but the technique is expertly unravelled, each element dealt with in its turn.
In some ways I wish I had read this book a long time ago. In other ways, the mistakes that I have made over the last year have made me appreciate the true value of this book.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read a number of UML books in the past and nearly all of them have passed off Use Case writing with a sentence like "A complete discussion of this is a topic for a whole other book." Well this is the other book.
In just 230 pages (there is little waffle here), Alistair manages to give the topic very thorough coverage. The number of different Use Case styles presented and the discussion about when to use each particularly impressed me. The examples too are surprisingly complete with almost no ... in.
My only criticism is the books structuring with some chapters being 20 pages and others less than a whole side. Also the amount of forward and backward referencing can get a bit much at times.
This book has definatly improved my use cases. All in all, though, I wish I had read this book years ago.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Dull but useful
This is never going to be a riveting read so prepare yourself for that.
Use Cases are like every business strategy, a fad, a flash in the pan that will be replaced by... Read more
Use Cases are like every business strategy, a fad, a flash in the pan that will be replaced by... Read more
Published 13 months ago by AM
Excellent guide to use case modeling for both novice and experienced
I reviewed this book as I believe there is little out there in the way of training or guidance on how to do use case modeling well. Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2009 by alex t papworth
Good introduction to Use Cases
Good introduction to the art of writing good Use Cases with examples of good and bad. I also found it was written in an easy to read mannor.
Published on 8 Sep 2008 by Mr. J. C. Fisher
Its a brilliant book!
This book is brilliant. Having gone through the pain of RUP for analysis, this is the book I wish we'd had before we started. Read more
Published on 25 Nov 2003 by "kiwisurfer"
The definitive practical guide to writing Use Cases.
In my opinion Alistair Cockburn has written the definitive practical guide to writing Use Cases. This book is obviously written by someone who has great practical experience,... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2002 by roger_henfrey@lineone.net
Good for Requirements Gathering; read 2 times to understand.
I'm a project manager and have given less than 5 stars because the book seems to have been written in a hurry. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2002
Cockburn's approach naive....
Being a consultant requirements/acceptance test/systems test analyst working on large business systems using OOA techniques, I was hoping that this would be a significant... Read more
Published on 5 Aug 2001 by gunman@thelonegunman.co.uk
Order out of chaos
My team were producing use cases in a variety of styles, scope and content, from five-page stream of consciousness essays to two liners. Read more
Published on 26 April 2001 by MoQingbird
First Class - the best practitioner book on the market
Use case theory is simple, but putting it into practice can leave you scratching your head. Hitting the right level is hard for even practiced people, never mind people just... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2000
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