Customer Centered Products: Creating Successful Products Through Smart Requirements Management

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Summary: Good primer on product development
Review: A thorough and straight forward primer on developing new products. Where it lacks creativity and a wealth of examples, it provides a solid understanding and approach. Recommended reading, but I would check your local library before shelling out money for this book. A good read but not one that I would necessarily keep on my shelf for future reference.

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Summary: Finally a useful business book
Review: After wasting money buying business books that could have been summarized into three pages it was nice to read a book that was detailed, useful and minimized repetition. My only complaint is that it could have included a comprehensive sample requirement document as an appendix. I recommend this book to anyone interested in developing better products or services.

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Summary: One of the best product books on the market!
Review: Hooks and Farry show you how to get it right the FIRST time, providing practical, easy to follow directions to achieve what every company wants - faster, better, cheaper products that are SUCCESSFUL. This book explains product management from an engineering perspective that is as practical as it is useful (unlike other books that put too much 'marketing spin' on product management, making it seem more like some mystical process). 3/4 of the way through this book I called the authors, and they are now coaching our entire company on this philosophy. And it's working!

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Summary: Great book which can be easily applied
Review: I am working on a key project and needed methodology to improve
how we specified the product we wanted. I found the book to be very useful and we are applying its methodology to our current project with great success. Only improvement might be additional info on what software is available to do requirements planning for smaller, non-software, related projects.

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Summary: Very good book on Requirements Engineering and Management
Review: I have recently read a remarkable book titled "Customer-Centered Products: Creating Successful Products Through Smart Requirements Management" by Ivy Hooks and Kristin Farry. The book deals with Requirements Engineering and Management from the management perspective. The book points out that "better, cheaper, faster" is possible with good requirements management...indeed, it may ONLY be possible with good requirements management. Unfortunately, problems that affect the cost, schedule and performance of a project cost more the later they are discovered, and the earlier they occur. Because requirements problems tend occur early in a project's history, and tend to be discovered late, they tend to be the most expensive to correct. Definitely a keeper!

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Summary: Good primer on product development
Review: I was looking for a book that efficiently summarized the process of defining requirements. This book begins by establishing a need for requirements, and proceeds to give practical advice on improving the planning process of any project, be it software or manufacturing. The writing is very conversational, and the examples are pertinent to most competitive planning environments. Highly recommended for anyone involved in planning projects!

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Summary: Good book on requirements
Review: I work in the defense requirements generation business, and this book really helped me get to some important breakthroughs in working with several programs. The authors bring experience from government and commercial programs - experience that can be applied to any situation. Hooks and Farry present their common sense approach to requirements development and management which should benefit anyone researching requirements.

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Summary: Practical, To-the-point Requirements User Guide for Managers
Review: Ivy F. Hooks and Kristin A. Farry give their audience a clear methodology about how to eliminate rework and unnecessary features rooted in poor requirement definition for making product development or procurement faster and cheaper without sacrificing the better. Good requirement definition is more important than ever to especially fast-paced high-tech companies for which researching, developing, and commercializing products on schedule and within budget is key to be, become, and remain competitive. Interestingly, Hooks and Farry explain to their readers the profound impact that culture, education, and management have on requirement definition. Their critical examination of the "seven cultural forces that define Americans" in chapter 2 helps their (foreign) audience better understand why some (American) marketers have no time to do it right the first time, but endless time and a company bankroll to do it wrong over and over again to quote Kevin J. Clancy and Peter C. Krieg in their excellent Counter-intuitive Marketing. Hooks and Farry remind their audience that nothing can change for the faster, cheaper, and better without a management commitment. Management must make very clear through their entire organization that quality products begin long before design and manufacture. These products find their genesis in quality requirements. To summarize, Customer-Centered Products is a must read for anyone involved/interested in product development or sourcing. The only weakness of the book lies in the concentration of examples from a few industries about which Hooks and Farry are very knowledgeable.

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Summary: Help Johnny Write Better Requirements, Now!
Review: Ivy Hooks and Kristin Farry have succesfully captured the essence of effectively defining and managing a product definition. This book is an excellent view into the problems and difficulties of writing effective requirements, and solutions to help you write, organize, and manage your thoughts better. For those who are challenged with putting pen to paper, this book should help you step-around the pitfalls of improper requirements, and help you along the way by starting you off on the right foot.

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Summary: At Last--A Requirements Book for Managers!
Review: This book will help managers save time, money, and schedule on development projects. It contains practical advice based on lessons learned on real projects. For example, data are provided that show that spending more effort on emerging the real requirements rather than simply using the customer's stated requirements can reduce costs by half! The authors recommend specific actions managers can take. They provide a set of useful checklists and suggestions for how to apply them. For example, what is the manager's role in developing good requirements? How can a project prioritize requirements so that resources are allocated consistently with real customer needs and expectations? How can important practices such as recording the rationale for each requirement, identifying and managing interfaces, and considering verification during requirements definition be implemented effectively? Hooks and Farry, both seasoned practitioners, have provided a valuable roadmap to help managers develop customer-centered products. The book is easy to read and the recommendations are easy to apply.