Requirements by Collaboration

I spend much time helping organizations capture requirements and even more time helping them recover from not capturing requirements. Many of them have gone through some motions regarding requirements as if they were sleepworking. Its time to wake up and do it rightand this book is going to be their alarm clock.

     Jerry Weinberg, author of numerous books on productivity enhancement

In todays complex, fast-paced software development environment, collaborationthe intense peer-to-peer conversations that result in products, decisions, and knowledge sharingis absolutely essential to success. But all too often, attempts to collaborate degenerate into agonizing meetings or ineffectual bull sessions. Ellen's wonderful book will help you bridge the gapturning the agony of meetings into the ecstasy of effective collaboration.

     Jim Highsmith, a pioneer in adaptive software development methods

Requirements by Collaboration presents a wealth of practical tools and techniques for facilitating requirements development workshops. It is suitableno, essential readingfor requirements workshop facilitators. It will help both technical people and customer representatives participate in these critical contributions to software success.

     Karl Wiegers, Principal Consultant, Process Impact, author of Software Requirements

The need for this particular book, at this particular time, is crystal clear. We have entered a new age where software development must be viewed as a form of business problem solving. That means direct user participation in developing requirements, or more accurately, in jointly working the business problem. That, in turn, means facilitated sessions. In this book, Ellen Gottesdiener provides a wealth of practical ideas for ensuring that you have exactly the right stuff for this all-important area of professional art.

     Ronald G. Ross, Principal, Business Rule Solutions, LLC, Executive Editor, www.BRCommunity.com

Gottesdieners years of software development experience coupled with her straight-forward writing style make her book a perfect choice for either a senior developer or a midlevel project manager. In addition to her technical experience, her knowledge of group dynamics balance the book by educating the reader on how to manage conflict and personality differences within a requirements teamsomething that is missing from most requirements textbooks...It is a required handbook that will be referred to again and again.

     Kay Christian, ebusiness Consultant, Conifer, Colorado

Requirements by Collaboration is a must read for any system stakeholder. End users and system analysts will learn the significant value they can add to the systems development process. Management will learn the tremendous r...

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Bli först med att recensera och betygsätt boken Requirements by Collaboration - du kan vinna 200 kr varje månad i tävlingen "Månadens recension".

Ellen Gottesdiener is President of EBG Consulting, Inc., a firm providing facilitation, consulting, and training services for clients in a wide variety of industries. She is a pioneer in the use of facilitated workshops to elicit business rules and other user requirements. She is the author of numerous articles and several book contributions and is a highly regarded speaker at professional conferences. 0201786060AB02212002

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List of Figures.


List of Tables.


Preface.

The Organization of This Book.

Acknowledgments.

I. OVERVIEW OF REQUIREMENTS WORKSHOPS.

1. Getting Started with Requirements Workshops.

Essential Requirements.

Difficulties with Requirements.

Requirements Levels.

Surfacing User Requirements.

User Requirements Models.

Requirements Workshops.

Workshops and Collaboration.

Workshops and Facilitation.

How Workshops Differ from Typical Meetings.

Workshop Products.

Types of Requirements Workshops.

Other Uses for Workshops.

Workshops and Iterative Development.

Making the Business Case for a Requirements Workshop.

When Not to Use Requirements Workshops.

Summing Up.

For More Information.

2. Workshop Deliverables: Mining Coal, Extracting Diamonds.

The Evolution of Requirements.

Business Requirements.

User Requirements.

Software Requirements.

Model Views, Focuses, and Levels of Detail.

Model Views.

Model Focus.

Level of Detail.

Building the Models.

As-Is Models.

Multiple Models.

Model Briefings.

Actor Map.

Actor Table.

Business Policies.

Business Rules.

Context Diagram.

Decision Table or Decision Tree.

Domain Model.

Event Table.

Glossary.

Process Map.

Prototype.

Relationship Map.

Scenarios.

Stakeholder Classes.

Statechart Diagrams.

Use Cases.

Use Case Map.

Use Case Package.

User Interface Navigation Diagram.

For More Information.

3. Ingredients of a Successful Requirements Workshop.

A Shared Purpose.

The Right People.

Shared Space.

Wise Groups.

Pre-Work.

Focus Questions.

Serious Play.

Trust.

Process Variety.

Doneness Tests.

Collaborative Closure.

Flexible Structure.

Using Both Sides of the Brain.

Frequent Debriefs.

II. REQUIREMENTS WORKSHOP FRAMEWORK.

4. Purpose: Sharing a Common Goal.

Writing Your Workshop Purpose Statement.

Don't Assume Anything.

Seek the Stories.

Link Workshop Purpose with Project Vision.

Defining Project Scope.

Identifying the Workshop Sponsor.

Defining the Workshop Planning Team.

Sample Purpose ...

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