Editorial Review:
Alistair Cockburn's Writing Effective Use Cases is an approachable, informative, and very intelligent treatment of an essential topic of software design. "Use cases" describe how "actors" interact with computer systems and are essential to software-modeling requirements. For anyone who designs software, this title offers some real insight into writing use cases that are clear and correct and lead to better and less costly software. The focus of this text is on use cases that are written, as opposed to modeled in UML. This book may change your mind about the advantages of writing step-by-step descriptions of the way users (or actors) interact with systems. Besides being an exceptionally clear writer, the author has plenty to say about what works and what doesn't when it comes to creating use cases. There are several standout bits of expertise on display here, including excellent techniques for finding the right "scope" for use cases. (The book uses a color scheme in which blue indicates a sea-level use case that's just right, while higher-level use cases are white, and overly detailed ones are indigo. Cockburn also provides notational symbols to document these levels of detail within a design.) This book contains numerous tips on the writing style for use cases and plenty of practical advice for managing projects that require a large number of use cases. One particular strength lies in the numerous actual use cases (many with impressive detail) that are borrowed from real-world projects, and demonstrate both good and bad practices. Even though the author expresses a preference for the format of use cases, he presents a variety of styles, including UML graphical versions. The explanation of how use cases fit into the rest of the software engineering process is especially good. The book concludes with several dozen concrete tips for writing better use cases. Software engineering books often get bogged down in theory. Not so in Writing Effective Use Cases, a slender volume with a practical focus, a concise presentation style, and something truly valuable to say. This book will benefit most anyone who designs software for a living. --Richard Dragan Topics covered: - Introduction to use cases
- Requirements
- Usage narratives
- Actors and goals
- Stakeholders
- Graphical models for use cases
- Scope for use cases (enterprise-level through nuts-and-bolts use cases)
- Primary and supporting actors
- Goal levels: user goals, summary level, and subfunctions
- Preconditions, triggers, and guarantees
- Main success scenarios
- Extensions for describing failures
| - Formats for use cases (including fully dressed one- and two-column formats)
- Use case templates for five common project types
- Managing use cases for large projects
- CRUD use cases
- Business-process modeling
- Missing requirements
- Moving from use cases to user-interface design
- Test cases
- eXtreme Programming (XP) and use cases
- Sample problem use cases
- Tips for writing use cases
- Use cases and UML diagrams
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Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 
Great for "first timer use case developers"  2007-12-03
I purchased this book after getting a consultant job in which I had to develop use-cases for the project I was involved in. Having never worked with them before, I found this book to be very helpful and by reading through it, I was able to create use-cases that were relevant and user-friendly.
I'd recommend it to others.
Working Effectively with Use Cases  2007-03-03
Without use cases there are simply to few techniques available to analyze complex products. There has been a push to write complex mega-user stories in place of use cases but in my experience this is simple a replacement in words from use case to story. Working effectively with Use Cases is the heart of the matter and we must learn to transcend simple mechanistic methods to achieve break through results.
Both Stories and www.writingeffectiveusecases.com have a place in product development. Also, both are close cousins but each has a distinct strength. How do we balance the tension between performing complex analysis and understanding what users want, while driving the team in small increments of work?
[...].
Cheers
Very Easy to Understand 2007-01-18
This book was recommended to me by a friend and former co-worker. Cockburn really seems to care about uses cases and has been a voice on the subject for some time. The entire field seems to be a bit confused, and the standards are vague at best. Cockburn does a decent job of helping the reader to understand the issues at hand and alerting the reader of what to look out for. It is still however, just another book about use cases and not the use case "bible" I was looking for. A book well worth reading nonetheless.
If only all books were as clear as this one!!! 2006-07-20
This is a great book for anyone involved in software development. Use cases are not only a great tool for designers they are a great tool for anybody involved in the development process.
The book has three main sections:
Part I: The Use Case Body Parts
This section dissects every piece of the Use Cases. He does so in such a manner that it all makes sense. Each and every section is well explained. This is not as common as it should be in technical books.
Note: There are some exercises at the end of each chapter.
Part II: Frequently Discussed Topics
It's often that one reads a technical book about a specific topic and one is left asking, "What next?" This is that section that's missing from most books. It provides valuable information on where Use Cases belong in the process, how to scale, and other topics similar to these.
Part III: Reminders for the Busy
Just in case you forget everything you read... this section provides an excellent refresher as well as additional tips for better Use Cases
Appendices:
There are answers to the exercises, glossary, suggested readings, and an explanation of UML treatment of Use Cases. Cockburn is not found of the way people try to use UML Use Cases. He does mention this before but doesn't get off course trying to explain why he doesn't until this appendix.
All in all, this is a great book that should be on your bookshelf.
Good Investment 2006-05-23
Alistair Cockburn has a gift for writing. His explanations are very easy to follow and the writing style makes it seem like you are reading novel. I tried a number of books on use cases and this is by far the best. It contains a number of different styles. I used this book as a basis for developing standards for the company I work for.
I haven't seen any other book on Use Cases that is as comprehensive. Even the authors of UML don't do Use Cases any justice!
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