Review By: John Peltier
12/10/2005

"Managing Software Requirements, 2nd edition" discusses the role of requirements throughout the software development lifecycle (SDLC). It presents the concepts of software requirements from a broad perspective primarily organized for classroom presentation, and covers the material at a level appropriate for all stakeholders in the software development process. The book focuses on software requirements as they evolve through the SDLC, as opposed to the common academic assumption that they should be fixed after the design stage of the lifecycle. By approaching requirements as if they are expected to change, the material is more applicable to "real-world" development projects than if it followed the fixed-requirements assumption. The material is illustrated with an ongoing case study that illustrates the techniques presented in the context of a software development project.

A conversational style is used throughout to introduce the concepts of managing requirements. Techniques are described for requirements gathering, analysis, design, implementation, and testing. The focuses of its design, implementation and testing techniques on use cases. Though the text provides a brief introduction to use case notation and the Unified Modeling Language, some previous familiarity with UML is helpful.

"Managing Software Requirements, 2nd Edition" is presented from a broad perspective that is most appropriate for system analysts and for project managers, who are responsible for creating the original set of requirements for the system and for making decisions on the multitude of change opportunities provided to the team from every direction. The book presents examples of an array of methods that can be used to elicit and to document requirements, in an overview format designed to offer familiarity and basic procedures but not in-depth coverage. It is broken up into six main sections which cover individual skills that a software development team should master in order to "develop quality software—on time and on budget—that meets customers’ real needs" (p. 5). Of the six major sections, "Building the Right System" relates most directly to developers and to quality assurance personnel. This section discusses how the use case drives both the developers’ implementation and the quality assurance department’s testing, as well as requirements traceability and change management.

This new 2nd Edition offers two new chapters that end the book with a framework for adapting requirements techniques to the reader’s organization based on the level of detail it needs, and gives an example game plan for getting a project off the ground with step-by-step instructions.

All in all, this book provides a good framework in which to discuss the management of requirements, and can benefit development and quality assurance personnel by illustrating some of the influences on the requirements they are being asked to fulfill.