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Module 3:The BusinessAnalysts Perspective
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Overview
Gathering Functional Requirements
Using Personas and Scenarios
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Lesson 1: Gathering Functional Requirements
Starting with a Vision Statement
Knowing When to Capture Requirements
Capturing Effective Requirements
Discussion: Gathering Functional RequirementsGathering and Tracking QoS Requirements
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Starting with a Vision Statement
Every project should have a vision
Every stakeholder should be able to understand it
Should capture why a customer would want the solution
Should be clear and conciseA vision is essential because it helps the team focus ona common goal
Strategic Projects
Represent large investmentsAim to significantly improvepredecessors
Vision statement is the elevatorpitch
Adaptive Projects
Tackle incremental change toexisting systems
Vision described in terms ofbusiness process change
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Knowing When to Capture Requirements
Not all requirements can be captured upfront
Trying to do so can lead to analysis paralysis
Value-up thinking asserts that requirements areperishable
The business environment or problem space changes
Knowledge behind requirements becomes stale
There is a limit to the number the team can handle
The implementation of one iterations requirementsinfluences the next
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Capturing Effective Requirements
Ambiguity
Understan
dability
Understandable Requirements
Leffingwell and Widrig, Managing Software Requirements (Boston, MA: Addison-Wesley, 2000), 273
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Gathering and Tracking QoS Requirements
Key QoS considerations:
Performance, Scalability, Security,Maintainability, Usability
VSTS tools enable you to capture and track QoS by
using work items
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Discussion: Gathering Functional Requirements
Whats the purpose of requirements?
What makes good requirements?
What are the most effective and lesteffective examples you can think of?
When are requirements knowable?
How do you capture requirements?
How and where do you record them?
Do you expect requirements to changeand if so how often?
How do you handle changes torequirements?
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Lesson 2: Using Personas and Scenarios
Identifying and Creating Personas
Techniques for Capturing Scenarios
Validating Scenarios
Evolving Scenarios Through the Lifecycle
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Identifying and Creating Personas
Personification of user groups
Represented as an individual
Good personas are memorableand three dimensional
Personas consider personality,
work environment and
characteristics
Persona should be useful
for decision making
Personas should have a
memorable name
Persona Benefits
They separate you from yourapplications customers
By making them real they areeasier to discuss
They are more specific thanRUP actors e.g. several
personas for differentdemographics
They help with role playactivities
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Techniques for Capturing Scenarios
Persona
Practices for Capturing Scenarios
Start with the goal
Break the goal into a list of steps
Start with Persona does step
Then Solution shows result
Use action verbs to enumerate steps
Write scenarios in the users language
Dont detail alternate and exception paths initially
Steps for persona to
accomplish goal
Scenario
Goal
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Validating Scenarios
Questions that help to validating scenarios:
Do I have enough scenarios? (Mapping scenarios to theend-to-end solution story)
Can customers provide meaningful feedback?
(Customer scenario validation)
Can the test team define positive and negative testsfrom your scenarios? (Test team validation)
Can architects and developers identify interaction /
interfaces and dependencies of the services necessaryto realize the scenarios? (Dev team validation)
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Evolving Scenarios Through the Lifecycle
In early iterations, the high value wow scenarios aredeveloped
Extend and modifying scenarios through iterations
Add new scenarios in later iterations
Add scenarios that eliminate dissatisfiers
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Module Review
Every project should have a vision statement
In MSF, you capture requirements by using scenariosand qualities of service
Write requirements that are specific and understandable
Develop scenarios and personas to help determinerequirements
Key quality of service requirements should be capturedand tracked
Performance, scalability, security,maintainability and usability