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Amazon.co.uk Review
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
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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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!
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.
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.
Use Cases are like every business strategy, a fad, a flash in the pan that will be replaced by... Read more
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