 | Level: Introductory Gary Pollice, Professor of Practice, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
15 Jun 2006 from The Rational Edge: A review of Ellen Gottesdiener's pocket-sized reference book for software requirements management practices.
 by Ellen Gottesdiener
Goal/QPC, 2005
ISBN: 1576810607
358 pages
This is a BIG little book. While the page size is 3½ x 5½ inches, there are 358 of them. The Software Requirements Memory Jogger packs a lot of information in a book that could be carried in a fairly large pocket. Luckily, the book does not have to be read from cover to cover, nor should it be. The key word in the title is "jogger." This is a reference book for those who know something about software requirements management and need a place to look up information occasionally. It is not a textbook on how to manage requirements.
Gottesdiener provides actionable advice along with reference information in the book's eight chapters and several appendices. She also describes many different approaches to managing requirements. This feature makes the book useful for many different types of readers.
The first chapter offers a broad, yet detailed overview of software requirements. This chapter is worth a look by all readers. It provides contextual information for the remainder of the book. A concise table shows project roles and responsibilities with respect to requirements.
The next five chapters weave requirements into a project's timeline. It doesn't matter whether you practice iterative development according to a process like the Rational Unified Process® or some other method, even a waterfall approach. You will go through the sequence presented in these chapters at least one time:
- Setting the stage for requirements development
- Elicit the requirements
- Analyze the requirements
- Specify the requirements
- Validate the requirements
In each of the chapters, Gottesdiener provides an introduction to the "tools," such as the vision statement, tells you why you might want to use them, and when to use them. She then provides details about how to use them. She does the same with techniques, like how to use peer reviews for validating requirements.
The last two chapters give you information for managing requirements and change, and adapting your requirements to different project types. This last point is critical for project success and is one that is often overlooked by many books on requirements.
Several visual cues are used in the margins to draw your attention to tips, key questions, warnings about potential pitfalls, and information about how the practices link together. Personally, I found these visual cues so pervasive in parts of the book that they lost their impact.
My biggest complaint about The Software Requirements Memory Jogger is the print size. The print size is smaller than most books, in order to accommodate the page size. I am usually able to get through a few pages of a book without my reading glasses, if necessary. I can't do that with this book.
Despite the print size, though, this is a valuable little book. Whether you are managing requirements on a large, plan-driven project, or working with requirements on a very agile project, The Software Requirements Memory Jogger will be a book that you can use and will refer to often.
About the author | 
| | Gary Pollice is a professor of practice at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, MA. He teaches software engineering, design, testing, and other computer science courses, and also directs student projects. Before entering the academic world, he spent more than thirty-five years developing various kinds of software, from business applications to compilers and tools. His last industry job was with IBM Rational software, where he was known as "the RUP Curmudgeon" and was also a member of the original Rational Suite team. He is the primary author of Software Development for Small Teams: A RUP-Centric Approach, published by Addison-Wesley in 2004. He holds a BA in mathematics and an MS in computer science. |
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