Agile requirements: discovering what your users really want. With this book, you will learn to:

• Flexible, quick and practical requirements that work

• Save time and develop better software that meets users' needs

• Gathering user stories -- even when you can't talk to users

• How user stories work, and how they differ from use cases, scenarios, and traditional requirements

• Leveraging user stories as part of planning, scheduling, estimating, and testing

• Ideal for Extreme Programming, Scrum, or any other agile methodology

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Thoroughly reviewed and eagerly anticipated by the agile community, User Stories Applied offers a requirements process that saves time, eliminates rework, and leads directly to better software.

The best way to build software that meets users' needs is to begin with "user stories": simple, clear, brief descriptions of functionality that will be valuable to real users. In User Stories Applied, Mike Cohn provides you with a front-to-back blueprint for writing these user stories and weaving them into your development lifecycle.

You'll learn what makes a great user story, and what makes a bad one. You'll discover practical ways to gather user stories, even when you can't speak with your users. Then, once you've compiled your user stories, Cohn shows how to organize them, prioritize them, and use them for planning, management, and testing.

• User role modeling: understanding what users have in common, and where they differ

• Gathering stories: user interviewing, questionnaires, observation, and workshops

• Working with managers, trainers, salespeople and other "proxies"

• Writing user stories for acceptance testing

• Using stories to prioritize, set schedules, and estimate release costs

• Includes end-of-chapter practice questions and exercises

User Stories Applied will be invaluable to every software developer, tester, analyst, and manager working with any agile method: XP, Scrum... or even your own home-grown approach.

ADDISON-WESLEY PROFESSIONAL

Boston, MA 02116

www.awprofessional.com

ISBN: 0-321-20568-5

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 45 Ratings

Excellent introduction to the best technique of capturing users' requirements - 2009-04-17
Reviewer Rating:
For those that need a quick introduction into "Agile methodology" - this is the book to start with.
It details the basics of interviewing, clarifying and capturing users' requirements in a true agile fashion.
The book then proceeds with describing the necessary interaction between the development team and the users / users' representatives (expert domains). Great job in providing a succinct analysis of the differences between the User Stories methodology and the IEEE software specifications as well as the Use Case technique.
Excellent examples accompany the theory.
The only problem is that User Stories is only a part (albeit an important one) in the Agile Methodology. The writer realizes the need to provide the basic principles of Agile but this part feels like a half baked effort to grow the book into something bigger than initially planned.

Better in One Chapter - 2009-10-22
Reviewer Rating:
This book made me better after the first chapter, maybe even after the introduction. I come from a traditional background of "The system shall..." approach to system requirements and incorporated them into a more agile approach. I have designed and completed successful projects that included hundreds of thousands of lines of code. I can tell you, those requirements were like hitching a piano to a car and driving uphill.

I have started using the principles in this book along with other agile approaches to get started, successfully, down the road of agile software development. My teams are happier, my customers are happier, my boss is happier.

By following the practical guidelines, this book will put you on the path from the beginning.

Solid practical and philosophical overview of agile methods - 2008-12-21
Reviewer Rating:
I bought this book in order to prepare for a transition to agile on our development team. I found it a good mix of theoretical background for the agile processes but also having plenty of good, practical advice. Plus, it is written well.

Great explanation of how to apply stories in real life - 2008-12-17
Reviewer Rating:
This book does an excellent job explaining what stories are, how to use them, and how to deal with the nasty edge cases that may trip up any team trying to apply user stories to their own projects.

Good Advice for Beginners and Experts - 2008-10-11
Reviewer Rating:
This book provides excellent insight into the story driven process, with immediately actionable advice. Cohn clearly describes the advantages of stories, and explains how to develop quality systems that deliver value to the user. Anyone operating in, or hoping to adopt an iterative and incremental methodology will benefit from reading this piece.

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