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Summary: Software Requirements
Review: Karl Wieger's book is destined to be classic in software requirements. It delivers a large set (over 40) no-nonsense best practices in highly readable, non-nonsense manner. I believe every project manager, IT (Information Technology) and business analyst, and IT account manager should read this book. Further, developers would do well to read it to gain critical insight into the 'big picture' of requirements engineering.The book is broken down into three sections: the case for requirements engineering best practices ("What and Why"), the requirements discovery, verification and validation process ("Software Requirements Engineering"), and the essentials of requirements management ("Software Requirements Management"). Throughout, the dual necessities of doing requirements right (verification) and doing the right requirements (validation) is addressed. Wiegers has thoroughly delved into the literature in the software requirements field. The text is liberally spiced with tidbits of data to support the business case for implementing these best practices. I found myself making notes in the inside cover and folding back pages to reference again as I read through the book. Early in the book, Wiegers presents a set of software engineering best practices which are classified into priority (high, medium, low) and difficulty (high, medium, low). Although you may disagree with the specific rankings for your shop, this table is an excellent example of modeling appropriate requirements engineering practices - prioritizing requirements! Other goodies abound. For example, a partial case study flows throughout the book which gives the reader enough of an idea of what a use case, dialog map, text requirement, etc. looks like to get the concept being resented. Each chapter ends with a concise list of suggested next steps, providing the reader with concrete actions to take to implement the practices covered in that chapter. In addition, there are numerous sample templates (e.g. Risk Item Tracking, Software Requirements Specification), several excellent checklists (e.g. Inspection Checklist for Software Requirements Spec, Software Elements Affected by a Proposed Change,), visual models (e.g. Requirements Traceability Links, Change Control Process) and a wonderful "bill of rights" for the software customer which boldly and directly asserts both rights and responsibilities of the customer. A set of example models is provided in the chapter called "A Picture is Worth 1024 Words". You will need to read other books or take training on the mechanics, notations and semantics of these models for visualized functional requirements. But the author covers the key models and their purpose succinctly. This book is easy to read, cuts to the chase, and provides a bounty of information that will wet our appetite to take action. This book is not a requirements engineering method or methodology, which would prescribe step-by-step protocols of task, roles, and techniques. Rather, like the classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking, you will find well-proven, sensible, and reusable practices. In Software Requirements, you will find the right ingredients and essential practices needed to 'cook' tasty requirements.
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Summary: Top choice for selling the concept.
Review: Karl Wiegers makes the clearest and most convincing case I've seen yet for a disciplined approach to gathering and documenting detailed users' requirements. This is a must-read for: - project managers, - skeptical I.T. managers, esp. start-up entrepreneurs - systems analysts, esp. less experienced ones - open-minded sponsoring user representatives This work, however, provides little practical guidance on how to actually do the analysis. Wiegers has the right idea in balancing established structured analysis (SA) with recent UML techniques, but the details and examples are much too sparse and vague to serve as a guide (e.g. data definition). Highly recommended for anyone who thinks doing it right is a "luxury" his or her organization can't afford in today's competitive Internet-time-driven world.
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Summary: Absolutely the best book on the market!!!
Review: Many books claim to provide best practices, this book delivers. From page one it is obvious that the author is writing from real world experience. Too many books on requirements are written by university professors with no real experience. I will insist that everyone working on my projects buy and read this book. My copy is loaded with notes and highlighter marks. If your are new to requirements dont waste your time with anything else. Perfect for the beginner.
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Summary: A practical guide to improving your requirements processes
Review: Many software development organizations struggle to gather, document, and manage the requirements for their information systems or commercial products. Even fast-moving projects need a clear understanding of what they're supposed to deliver; otherwise, they might move fast at first, but they can bog down in lengthy rework and extensive modification. Slighting the requirements process typically leads to cost and schedule overruns, disappointed customers, and tired, frustrated developers. After seeing the common problems that plague many projects, I wrote this book to help business analysts, software developers, managers, and customers do a better job on these critical project activities. I describe several dozen "good practices" for requirements elicitation, analysis, specification, verification, and management. These methods are practical and effective, not cool theoretical concepts. I've used the methods myself and have seen others use them as well. I've illustrated the techniques with examples drawn from my own experiences and those of my consulting clients, and from a sample project that threads throughout the entire book. Typical discussions that take place among project participants also illustrate some common requirements-related situations. I've addressed important some topics that don't often appear in books on requirements, including defining the product's vision and scope, crafting a collaborative customer-developer partnership, prioritizing requirements, and analyzing the impact of proposed requirements changes. Requirements, and hence software success, are about communication. Sustained software success relies on process improvement, applying new methods that lead to better results. Although there aren't any magic solutions or silver bullets, thoughtfully applying the practices in this book can help any project reach its objectives.
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Summary: Comprehensive, clear and a little drab
Review: The more time I spend running software projects, the more convinced I become that a strong requirements process is the hardest part. This is an excellent book that covers developing a strong requirements process. Wiegers doesn't cover underlying philosophy (see Kovitz or Jackson), but he provides a useful reference. The book outlines many good practices - and his point about "good practices" versus "best practices" is well taken, but it is not as well organized as some other toolbox-style books. A big part of establishing effective requirements gathering is selling the management team. This book doesn't really tackle this challenge. The sample project is helpful, but I wish Wiegers had gone the last mile and attached the project requirements documents as an appendix. Despite this list of gripes about what the book doesn't do, it has many, many good points and is written in a clear, if not lively, fashion. Recommended.
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Summary: Book to Analysts
Review: This book covers important topic about managing requirements,which are driving force for any software project. It is nice to readthis book before using any commercial tool for requirement management.
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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This book describes everything you could want to know about writing software requirements. It is easy to read cover-to-cover, and is also an excellent reference book. This is one of the best technology-related books I've bought.
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Summary: Managing requirements in real life
Review: This book faces a lot of competition from other books, which are supposed to tell you how to manage software projects in general, and the requirements gathering process in particular.
However, what sets this book apart from the vast majority of others is its absolute relevance (as opposed to being an arbitrary textbook). For example, this book recognizes the fact that often enough process improvements are deferred due to political reasons alone. The more you read it, the more you realize it addresses the same problems you have encountered while managing the requirements process.
But what really sets this book apart is that it actually tells you how to solve these problems, by offering feasible solutions that could be easily implemented, gradually, in real life scenarios. This, basically, means that the book could actually HELP you.
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Summary: A good book on a tough subject.
Review: This book has changed the project process at our company from a free-for-all to a concrete, repeatable process that everyone involved agrees upon. The writing is distinctly unambiguous and understandable, dealing with a difficult and often misunderstood job in a deft fashion. I wish that I had read this 5 years ago.
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Summary: Excellent, practical guide to requirements gathering
Review: This book is a clearly written and comprehensive overview of requirements best practices. The author strikes the right balance between evangelism and pragmatism, recognizing that process change has to be measured and incremental. Highly recommended.
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