First of all, let's get to the point. If you are serious about Software Engineering this book belongs on your bookshelf. It covers the full range of topics relating to Requirements Management, from 'Defining the Problem' to 'Managing Your Customer' to 'Managing Change.' There is enough information in here to make your brain hurt, but it is presented well - with many diagrams, stories, and a conversational tone. The book focuses on large team development of large systems, but the concepts will be useful to anyone who has to manage interactions between Developers, Customers, and Users.
This book is a logical, systematic, and thorough description of the current 'state of the art' for Requirements Management, defined as ''a systematic approach to eliciting, organizing, and documenting the requirements of the system, and a process that establishes and maintains agreement between the customer and the project team on the changing requirements of the system.'' It divides the discipline into six team skills, each with its own goals, concepts, and techniques.
- Analyzing the Problem: understanding the problem that needs to be solved.
- Understanding User Needs: eliciting requirements from Users and other Stakeholders.
- Defining the System: organizing and documenting the user's requirements.
- Managing Scope: keeping the workload under control.
- Refining the System Definition: converting the user's requirements to design inputs.
- Building the Right System: implementing, verifying, and validating the system.
Finally, the authors provide a four-page recipe for getting started in your organization.
This book is well worth buying.