Software Requirements: Styles and Techniques

Topics covered:

Introduction to requirements, domain and product-level requirements, requirements for different project types, traditional, fast, and two-step approaches to defining requirements, types of data requirements (data models, dictionaries, data expressions, and virtual windows), types of functional requirements (including context diagrams, event and function lists, feature requirements, screens and prototypes, task descriptions, scenarios and use cases), functional details (including tables and decision tables), Unified Modeling Language diagrams used with requirements (including state, activity, class, collaboration, and sequence diagrams), requirements for product integration (for nontechnical and technical audiences), defining quality requirements, specifying accuracy, performance, and usability; security and maintainability requirements, product life cycle and requirements for each step (including contracts, proposals, design and programming, acceptance testing and delivery, requirements management, release planning, tracing and tool support), elicitation issues and techniques, stakeholders, working with focus groups, business goals and cost/benefit, domain-requirements tracing, checking and validation, real-world examples of techniques in action, case studies (and sample requirements) for a Danish shipyard database, two medical systems, a noise source location application, and a system to manage members of a political association.

What are the highlights?

• Two complete real-life requirements specifications (the traditional and the fast approach) and examples from many others.
• Explanations of both traditional and fast approaches, and discussions of their strengths and weaknesses in different project types (tailor-made, COTS, and product development).
• Real-life illustrations of all types of requirements, stakeholder analysis, cost/benefit and other techniques to ensure that business goals are met.
• Proven methods for dealing with difficult or complex requirements, such as specifying ease-of-use, or dealing with 200 reports that might be needed because they are in the old system.

Who is it for?

Everyone involved in the software supply chain, from analysts and developers to end users, will learn new techniques, benefit from requirements written by other specialists, and discover successes and failures from other companies. Software suppliers will find ideas for helping customers and writing competitive proposals. Programmers and other developers will learn how to express requirements without specifying technical details, and how to reduce risks when developing a system. Students aspiring to IT careers will learn the theory and practice of requirements engineering, and get a strong foundation for case studies and projects.

The author presents various techniques and models, and he stresses that there is no RIGHT model for all situations. He also discusses practical issues/problems, with a balance between pragmatism and perfection. The book discusses the types of projects, contracts and appropriate requirement elicitation/engineering techniques to be considered.

One of the rare books, that discuss seriously Quality Requirements, not from the surface and not just by listing them from standards, but in details with practical examples, especially usability.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who deals with requirements! Practitioners, students and teachers.