What book should I read?

[seaduspx]

I'm sure that I will be getting many different opinions on this one, but that's okay. I am extremely interested in all the information that I can get.

What is a good book to read for those that are basically starting out in this world of requirements gathering. One that describes the requirements gathering process and how it fits in to the overall development lifecycle.

Thank you!

[beej199]

Based on a recomendation I stumbled over on a blog on this site I bought Software Requirements by Karl E.Weigers from Microsoft Press. Im new to requirements gathering too but as far as I can see (im half way through the book) this is a really good in depth book and Im not dissapointed I purchased it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0735618798/202-8698401-8295854?v=glance&n=266239


Id previously bought the book linked below but never really got into it, found it a bit too vague. Might go back to it once I read the Weigers book.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321131630/qid=1153259242/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2_2/202-8698401-8295854

Im sure others with more experience will have further recomendations.

[Jerry]

I'm a fan of Karl's most recent book.

More About Software Requirements: Thorny Issues and Practical Advice. (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0735622671/sr=8-2/qid=1153830272/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-2464463-3975167?ie=UTF8)

Here (http://requirements.seilevel.com/blog/2006/04/karl-wiegers-more-about-software_26.html) is an overview of the book and here (http://requirements.seilevel.com/blog/2006/05/what-is-right-level-of-detail.html) is some detail on what is the right level of detail requirements documents.

[michaelpm]

I like Software Requirements by Karl Weigers as well.

[joe]

Ooh, there are so many!

I'd start off with Software Requirements as suggested above and work my way down this list:

Seilevel Blog :)
Complete Systems Analysis by James & Suzanne Robertson
Writing Effective Use Cases by Cockburn
Requirements by Collaboration by Gottesdeiner

joe

[joe]

Oh - and you might also want to look at the bibliography of these books. It's often a great source of more in-depth knowledge if that is what you're after.

joe

[kwiegers]

I'm blushing. I'm glad some of you like my requirements books. Some other books that I like a lot are:

"Requirements by Collaboration" by Ellen Gottesdiener; this is the definitive book on how to plan and conduct requirements elicitation workshops. Ellen also has a recent book called "The Software Requirements Memory Jogger", which is a pocket guide with a lot of information.

"Use Cases: Requirements in Context, Second Edition" by Daryl Kulak and Eamonn Guiney; this is my favorite of the books on use cases. I think it's easier to understand than Alistair Cockburn's book.

"Software Requirements: Styles and Techniques" by Soren Lauesen; this has an excellent treatment in particular on quality attributes.

"Customer-Centered Products" by Ivy Hooks and Kristin Farry has many good tips for writing excellent requirements.

[JimReardan]

One of the best books I have ever read is Rapid Agile Business System Analysis, by Trond Frantzen.

You can get it here: http://www.bsacollege.com/RABSAbook.html (http://www.bsacollege.com/RABSAbook.html)

The approach is fast, accurate, and thorough. It teaches you what questions to ask, what to do with the answers, how to control scope, how to find all the objects, data, and attributes, and how to document it so it's usefull to both business people and the technical staff.

[reagans]

I have found "The Requirements Engineering Handbook" by Ralph Young quite useful.

Ciao,
Roger Eagans

[jbeatty]

Anyone read "Software Requirements Patterns" by Stephen Withall yet? I just got it, and haven't had a chance to dig in it yet - at first glance it looks detailed.

[aoporto]

Scott Berkun's book The Art of Project Management (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0596007868?tag=andreshomepag-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=0596007868&adid=07S14G9DBQXAVXSCP9X3&) provides good coverage of software requirements and their importance to any software project. I found it to be very useful. You can view sample chapters at http://scottberkun.com/the-book-the-art-of-project-management/ .

Regards,
Andre Oporto
Infogenium Software
http://infogenium.com/EdgeRM