Visual Models for Software Requirements (Developer Best Practices)

This is the most comprehensive and understandable implementation of the complete set of BA tools I have ever seen.You can start using the framework immediately because the rules for applying the toolset to the real world environment are very organised but not over-burdened with non-value adding baggage. I have been looking for several months for best practice BA implementation references in order to remove/reduce risk to IT projects. BABoK and several other texts purchased from Amazon have been used as a basis for my research but with the discovery of this text all the information I had picked up before suddenly all came together for me. I am now drafting up a framework for what constitutes best practice in the BA environment and integrating it with how to run a project using PRINCE2. I am amazed at how little thought exists within either PMBoK or PRINCE2 about integrating the BS work into an IT project.

This is another excellent book from Microsoft Press! Software requirements remains one of the greatest challenges in software engineering. Using visual models for software requirements can help a great deal. This book goes over using visual models in detail. In particular, RML is used in this book. RML is powerful in that it takes a more holistic view in modeling software requirements (eg. it takes into account the bigger picture through categorizing requirements around objects, people, systems and data. Unlike UML, RML gives a more complete picture of what you're trying to build and who and what is impacted. Don't get me wrong though, UML is still good to use as a reasonable foundation in defining software requirements. However, if you are concerned about your business stakeholders when defining requirements you may want to give RML a try. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in software, IT and even engineering.

I used this book as a reference for many months, picking it up when I needed it. Then I decided I would read it end to end. I chipped away at it a little bit at a time with my morning coffee, the Kindle format is great for this! I found it very informative and gave me the insights I was hoping to find. I imagine that I will breeze through it occasionally and look at my highlights/notes when a project is a bit cloudy for my stakeholder or myself.

I am new to creating visual modeling with regards to software requirements so I grabbed this to get me started. If you have some software engineering exposure, the concepts presented are on a basic level. The authors did not break any new ground or go into any elaborate real world scenarios. If looking for a starting point, this one is not bad. . ...

The basic themes of this are good if you take them and apply them to your situation. If you apply them all then you have a very heavy methodology which is not affordable in the current age for most companies. A better approach is to take the ones that work for you and your company and use these as the basis for a sound methodology.Also ignore the obvious plugs for MS Office as I did, this should not influence your judgement as it did not mine.

This is really good book and worth keeping it for ready referencePronsVery good approachDetailed and practical steps to perform BA workRelevant tips and real life examples used for explanationEasy to understand techniques n templatesConsCouldn't some how link with BABOK Knowledge areas

Really helpful book for beginners and experts as well. Every model explained in detail with an example and an exercise for each chapter/model.

Simply Excellent - this book is logically structured and directly implementable in meaningful ways. Our organisation used this to implement an Agile requirements elicitation, documentation and delivery methodology without much variation, and it simply worked.

I came across this book via the Seilevel blog and read through the teasers they released there and thought it might be worth purchasing... well after receiving my copy this morning I can DEFINATELY recommend this book if you are hovering on the purchase button undecided.The book is well laid out and easy to follow. One of the things that have frustrated me with requirements books purchased in the past is there is a lot of theory, but no real meat on the bone sort of exercises to get you up to speed with new techniques. This is not the case here as each chapter starts with a case study and takes you into the theory, explains the model and then has a really good example to reference with an end of chapter exercise to get you doing it yourself. Apart from Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs by Ellen Gottesdiener this has to be one of the most stand out books for me as a Business Analyst.Chapters worth a read:Business Objective Models - how to get and document clear business objectives in a systematic and clear methodRequirement Mapping Matrix - one of the clearest definition I have come across of how to document requirements and manage them - how many times in the past have I really just given up with people defining requirements which are not linked to the process map - arghhh if you cant link it to the business process you are writing requirements for what is it doing in your requirements list!!!!!!Ecosystem Map - one of the key items which always seems to be missed off the project and then everyone sits there saying wouldn't it be nice if we had an overall picture of the project - DOH!User Interface Flow - clear chapter for documenting UI requirements in a simple and effective way to enable the developers and testers to create unit/system tests from.As a BA with 14 years' experience I highly recommend this book if you want to freshen up your skills or learn something new - you wont be disapointed.

Honestly.. this book is a god send. The people who own this book are likely the business analysts that arent the cowboy builders of the world. Everything in here makes sense and I am constantly using it as a reference.

A useful resource every business analyst should have on their bookshelf!

Since I bought my copy, I've already bought several more for each person involved in business requirements gathering in the organization.This is the only source that gives a comprehensive review of the models you need in your daily work.To build your expectations:1) You'll have a solid and consistent framework2) You will see the structure behind the models. What to gather first and how to put it on paper3) You will NOT have answers to all questions, clearly, some particular cases that you meet are missing and you will need to extend this framework to work for you/companyBUT this is the best starting point ever

An excellent book that covers many different and complementary types of requirements technics with enough details, compare them and illustrate with concrete examples. A must have.