Effective Requirements Practices (With CD-ROM)

Rating:
Summary: Big Shop Requirements
Review: When I got a note from Ralph Young I thought, oh my gosh, YARB! (Yet Another Requirements Book). Why do we have so many books on Requirements? Reading Dr. Young's book gave me the insight to answer the question. I must admit, it was more inspiration than quotation. Requirements work is communication work. What methods and/or tools can you use to get abstract ideas out of one head and into the head of another? Nobody has solved this question for basic human interaction let alone complex technical work! How did I get this insight from this book? Many of the shops that I have worked with to develop requirements processes have been small to mid size firms. Dr. Young's book appears to be ideally suited for the big to enormous size shops. What I saw in the book was a degree of formality that would never be tolerated at the small shops. However, given the context of enormous organizations, the practices presented are approprate *communication* practices. His book is a nice collection of tools for your toolbox. So I give the book four stars. Not that it is THE book on requirements. It is a YARB by all accounts. However, the great references at the end of each chapter are worth the price. Small shop folks can use that to start the jouney because the practices presented are not tailored for you. The style and vocabulary were a bit formal as well but not overly difficult to read. Enjoy.