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Writing Better Requirements (Paperback)

by Ian Alexander (Author), Richard Stevens (Author)

4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Addison Wesley (17 Jul 2002)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0321131630
ISBN-13: 978-0321131638
Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.4 x 1 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 42,953 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Well-written requirements are crucial to systems of all kinds: you are unlikely to get what you want unless you ask for it. This book explains and demonstrates exactly what requirements are for, and how to write them

About the Author

Ian Alexander is an independent consultant specialising in Requirements Engineering. He has written several training courses on systems and requirements engineering. He has led hundreds of training courses on systems engineering, requirements, DOORS, and DXL, and has run numerous practical workshops on scenarios, trade-offs and requirements. He was co-author of an Addison-Wesley book on HTML 3 and its 2^nd Edition on HTML 4. He is the author of the Scenario Plus for Use Cases toolkit, and is a well-known speaker and writer on scenario usage. He is currently on a technology project to investigate the reuse of specifications for control systems in the German automobile industry. He helps to run the BCS Requirements Engineering Specialist Group and the IEE Professional Network for Systems Engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer.

Richard Stevens is the founder of QSS, the firm that launched the pioneering Requirements Management tool DOORS, the world’s most popular requirements tool. He is the co-author of books on "Systems Engineering", "Software Engineering Standards", "Software Engineering Guidelines" and "Understanding Computers". In 1998, Richard was appointed as the first European Fellow of INCOSE, the International Council on Systems Engineering.

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52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for every requirements engineer, 15 Oct 2002

By	Jeremy Dick (Oxfordshire, UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a very useful little book for anyone attempting to write technical requirements. It at all times remains practical rather than theoretical. It contains a small number of well chosen exercises, which makes it ideal as an aid to teaching requirements writing, and yet sits comfortably beside the keyboard as an ongoing reference for practitioners - especially with its concise glossary of terms.

The book focuses on what is often the weakest area in requirements writing: the expression and organisation of user requirements - those that come before system requirements, and which describe more of the problem to be solved than of the system that is to be the solution. It uses the concept of scenarios as a means of obtaining and organising requirements. Indeed, the book is itself structured almost as a mini scenario, in which stakeholders are identified, interviewed; requirements documents are structured; requirements statements are written; and all is reviewed.

Because the book is about writing requirements rather than managing them, there are many topics it chooses not to cover in any detail. Examples are requirements traceability and managing change in requirements. However, there is an excellent annotated "further reading" list at the end, which has the merit of not being too long.

The only criticism I have concerns the example requirements in the appendix. I find it hard to identify the actual requirements from amongst the elements of the scenarios. Examples in the book sometimes use the affirmative "shall" to indicate a statement of requirement, sometimes just the present tense, e.g. "The pilot controls the aircraft's angle of climb with one hand." In the appendix, the word "shall" seems to be avoided completely, and, left only with the present tense, it is difficult to distinguish scenario steps from requirements. Are the statements "Call center operator tries to disconfirm intrusion by calling householder" and "Alarm notifies failure to call center" both requirements on the burglar alarm?

In summary, "Writing Better Requirements" should be on every requirements engineer's desk (not shelf!) It could and should serve as a constant reminder of some common sense principles that lead to a more effective expression of requirements.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DIY Requirements Analysis: a great primer, 25 Feb 2006

By	Mr. J. A. D. Swan "nlondongamer" (london) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought this book as an introduction myself when planning a user-led approach to web software design. I found it told me much of what I needed to know in terms of what to do, how to do it and why it was being done. I immediately bought copies for all my team. It is comprised of short sections and plain language, and avoids putting pseudo-scientific rigidity on what is essentially a structured human process. I now find it a useful book to give to 'lay' people in our business who want to understand what a user requirements led design process is all about.

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