Writing effective use cases

✍ Scribed by Cockburn, Alistair(Contributor)

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Year: 2000;2007
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 301
• Series: Crystal collection for software professionals;Agile software development series
• Edition: 18. print
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Use cases have never been this easy to understand -- or this easy to create! InWriting Effective Use Cases, Alistair Cockburn offers a hands-on, soup-to-nuts guide to use case development, based on the proven concepts he has refined through years of research, development, and seminar presentations.KEY TOPICS:Cockburn begins by answering the most basic questions facing anyone interested in use cases: "What does a use case look like? When do I write one?" Next, he introduces each key element of use cases: actors, stakeholders, design scope, goal levels, scenarios, and more.Writing Effective Use Casescontains detailed guidelines, formats, and project standards for creating use cases -- as well as a detailed chapter on style, containing specific do's and don'ts. Cockburn shows how use cases fit together with requirements gathering, business processing reengineering, and other key issues facing software professionals. The book includes practice exercises with solutions, as well as a detailed appendix on how to use these techniques with UML.MARKET:For all application developers, object technology practitioners, software system designers, architects, and analysts.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 8
Preface......Page 20
Acknowledgments......Page 24
1.1 What Is a Use Case (More or Less)?......Page 26
Use Case 1 Buy Stocks over the Web......Page 29
Use Case 2 Get Paid for Car Accident......Page 30
Use Case 3 Register Arrival of a Box......Page 31
1.2 Your Use Case Is Not My Use Case......Page 32
Use Case 5 Buy Something (Fully Dressed Version)......Page 34
Steve Adolph: “Discovering” Requirements in New Territory......Page 37
1.3 Requirements and Use Cases......Page 38
Use Cases as Project-Linking Structure......Page 39
1.4 When Use Cases Add Value......Page 40
1.5 Manage Your Energy......Page 41
1.6 Warm Up with a Usage Narrative......Page 42
Usage Narative: Getting “Fast Cash”......Page 43
1.7 Exercises......Page 44
Part 1 The Use Case Body Parts......Page 46
2.1 Interactions between Actors with Goals......Page 48
2.2 Contract between Stakeholders with Interests......Page 54
2.3 The Graphical Model......Page 56
Chapter 3 Scope......Page 60
3.1 Functional Scope......Page 61
3.2 Design Scope......Page 63
3.3 The Outermost Use Cases......Page 74
3.5 Exercises......Page 76
4.1 Stakeholders......Page 78
4.2 The Primary Actor......Page 79
4.5 Internal Actors and White-Box Use Cases......Page 84
4.6 Exercises......Page 85
Chapter 5 Three Named Goal Levels......Page 86
5.1 User Goals (Blue, Sea-Level)......Page 87
5.2 Summary Level (White, Cloud/ Kite)......Page 89
5.3 Subfunctions (Indigo/Black, Underwater/Clam)......Page 91
5.4 Using Graphical Icons to Highlight Goal Levels......Page 92
5.5 Finding the Right Goal Level......Page 93
5.6 A Longer Writing Sample: “Handle a Claim” at Several Levels......Page 95
5.7 Exercises......Page 104
6.1 Preconditions......Page 106
6.2 Minimal Guarantees......Page 108
6.4 Triggers......Page 109
6.5 Exercises......Page 110
7.1 The Main Success Scenario......Page 112
7.2 Action Steps......Page 115
7.3 Exercises......Page 123
8.1 Extension Basics.......Page 124
8.2 The Extension Conditions......Page 125
8.3 Extension Handling......Page 131
8.4 Exercises......Page 135
Chapter 9 Technology and Data Variations......Page 136
10.1 Sub Use Cases......Page 138
10.2 Extension Use Cases......Page 139
10.3 Exercises......Page 142
11.1 Formats to Choose From......Page 144
11.2 Forces Affecting Use Case Writing Styles......Page 153
11.3 Standards for Five Project Types......Page 157
11.4 Conclusion......Page 162
11.5 Exercise......Page 163
Part 2 Frequently Discussed Topics......Page 164
Chapter 12 When Are We Done?......Page 166
Chapter 13 Scaling Up to Many Use Cases......Page 168
14.1 CRUD Use Cases......Page 170
14.2 Parameterized Use Cases......Page 175
15.1 Modeling versus Designing......Page 178
15.2 Linking Business and System Use Cases......Page 182
Chapter 16 The Missing Requirements......Page 186
16.1 Precision in Data Requirements......Page 187
16.2 Cross-linking from Use Cases to Other Requirements......Page 189
17.1 Use Cases in Project Organization......Page 192
17.2 Use Cases to Task or Feature Lists......Page 196
17.3 Use Cases to Design......Page 199
17.4 Use Cases to UI Design......Page 202
17.5 Use Cases to Test Cases......Page 203
17.6 The Actual Writing......Page 205
Chapter 18 Use Case Briefs and Extreme Programming......Page 212
19.1 No System......Page 214
19.2 No Primary Actor......Page 215
19.3 Too Many User Interface Details......Page 216
19.4 Very Low Goal Levels......Page 217
19.5 Purpose and Content Not Aligned......Page 218
19.6 Advanced Example of Too Much UI......Page 219
Part 3 Reminders for the Busy......Page 228
Reminder 2: Make the Use Case Easy to Read......Page 230
Reminder 3: Just One Sentence Form......Page 231
Reminder 5: Who Has the Ball?......Page 232
Reminder 6: Get the Goal Level Right......Page 233
Reminder 8: Two Endings......Page 234
Reminder 9: Stakeholders Need Guarantees......Page 235
Reminder 11: Pass/Fail Tests for One Use Case......Page 236
Reminder 12: An Ever-Unfolding Story......Page 240
Reminder 14: Core Values and Variations......Page 241
Reminder 15: Quality Questions across the Use Case Set......Page 244
Reminder 17: Work Breadth First......Page 246
Reminder 19: Know the Cost of Mistakes......Page 248
Reminder 20: Blue Jeans Preferred......Page 249
Reminder 22: Job Titles Sooner and Later......Page 250
Reminder 23: Actors Play Roles......Page 251
Reminder 24: The Great Drawing Hoax......Page 252
Reminder 25: The Great Tool Debate......Page 254
Reminder 26: Project Planning Using Titles and Briefs......Page 255
Appendices......Page 256
A.1 Ellipses and Stick Figures......Page 258
A.2 UML’s Includes Relation......Page 259
A.3 UML’s Extends Relation......Page 260
A.4 UML’s Generalizes Relations......Page 264
A.6 Drawing Use Case Diagrams......Page 267
A.7 Write Text-based Use Cases Instead......Page 268
Chapter 3, page 51......Page 270
Chapter 4, page 60......Page 271
Chapter 5, page 79......Page 272
Chapter 6, page 85......Page 273
Chapter 7, page 98......Page 274
Chapter 8, page 110......Page 276
Chapter 11, page 138......Page 277
Main Terms......Page 278
Use Case Types......Page 280
Diagrams......Page 281
Articles Referenced in the Text......Page 282
Useful Online Resources......Page 283
B......Page 284
C......Page 285
E......Page 286
F......Page 287
G......Page 288
M......Page 289
P......Page 290
R......Page 291
S......Page 292
T......Page 293
U......Page 294
Y......Page 295

✦ Subjects

Computer Science;Programming;Software;Business;Nonfiction;Science;Technology;Design;Technical;Reference;Computers