This guide will help readers learn how to employ the significant power of use cases to their software development efforts. It provides a practical methodology, presenting key use case concepts.

Writing use cases as a means of capturing the behavioral requirements of software systems and business processes is a practice that is quickly gaining popularity. Use cases provide a beneficial means of project planning because they clearly show how people will ultimately use the system being designed. On the surface, use cases appear to be a straightforward and simple concept. Faced with the task of writing a set of use cases, however, practitioners must ask: "How exactly am I supposed to write use cases?" Because use cases are essentially prose essays, this question is not easily answered, and as a result, the task can become formidable. In Writing Effective Use Cases, object technology expert Alistair Cockburn presents an up-to-date, practical guide to use case writing. The author borrows from his extensive experience in this realm, and expands on the classic treatments of use cases to provide software developers with a "nuts-and-bolts" tutorial for writing use cases. The book thoroughly covers introductory, intermediate, and advanced concepts, and is, therefore, appropriate for all knowledge levels. Illustrative writing examples of both good and bad use cases reinforce the author's instructions. In addition, the book contains helpful learning exercises--with answers--to illuminate the most important points. Highlights of the book include: A thorough discussion of the key elements of use cases--actors, stakeholders, design scope, scenarios, and more A use case style guide with action steps and suggested formats An extensive list of time-saving use case writing tips A helpful presentation of use case templates, with commentary on when and where they should be employed A proven methodology for taking advantage of use cases With this book as your guide, you will learn the essential elements of use case writing, improve your use case writing skills, and be well on your way to employing use cases effectively for your next development project.

Use cases have never been this easy to understand -- or this easy to create! In Writing 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. 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 Cases contains 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. For all application developers, object technology practitioners, software system designers, architects, and analysts.

Simple, elegant, and proven solutions to the specific problems of writing use cases on real projects, this workbook has 36 specific guidelines that readers can use to measure the quality of their use cases. This is the first book to specifically address use cases with the proven and popular development concept of patterns.

Discusses how to define and organize use cases that model the user requirements of a software application. The approach focuses on identifying all the parties who will be using the system, then writing detailed use case descriptions and structuring the use case model. An ATM example runs throughout the book. The authors work at Rational Software. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

From best-selling author and noted teacher and speaker Yehuda Berg comes a thought-provoking call to action on our current global crisis. Positing that our collective abdication of responsibility — in every facet of our lives, including business and the economy, the environment, government and politics, healthcare, education, and religion — has contributed to the problems and challenges we face, Berg asserts that taking responsibility for our actions (or lack thereof) and their consequences is the key to achieving change for the better. Berg urges readers to access the power within each of us, using the principles of Kabbalah, in order to create the consciousness shift required for lasting positive change.

Use case analysis is a methodology for defining the outward features of a software system from the user's point of view. Applying Use Cases, Second Edition, offers a clear and practical introduction to this cutting-edge software development technique. Using numerous realistic examples and a detailed case study, you are guided through the application of use case analysis in the development of software systems. This new edition has been updated and expanded to reflect the Unified Modeling Language (UML) version 1.3. It also includes more complex and precise examples, descriptions of the pros and cons of various use case documentation techniques, and discussions on how other modeling approaches relate to use cases. Applying Use Cases, Second Edition, walks you through the software development process, demonstrating how use cases apply to project inception, requirements and risk analysis, system architecture, scheduling, review and testing, and documentation. Key topics include: Identifying use cases and describing actors Writing the flow of events, including basic and alternative paths Reviewing use cases for completeness and correctness Diagramming use cases with activity diagrams and sequence diagrams Incorporating user interface description and data description documents Testing architectural patterns and designs with use cases Applying use cases to project planning, prototyping, and estimating Identifying and diagramming analysis classes from use cases Applying use cases to user guides, test cases, and training material An entire section of the book is devoted to identifying common mistakes and describing their solutions. Also featured is a handy collection of documentation templates and an abbreviated guide to UML notation. You will come away from this book with a solid understanding of use cases, along with the skills you need to put use case analysis to work.