Executable Specifications with Scrum: A Practical Guide to Agile Requirements Discovery

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cardinal, Mario, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Scrum (Computer software development).

Agile software development.

Work breakdown structure.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 v.) : ill.

Edition:

1st edition

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] Addison Wesley Professional 2013

Language Note:

English

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Most books about specifications still assume that requirements can be known up front and won’t change much during your project. In today’s “real world,” however, you must specify and build software in the face of high and continuing uncertainty. Scrum and other agile methods have evolved to reflect this reality. Now, there’s a complete guide to specifying software in agile environments when prerequisites are unclear, requirements are difficult to grasp, and anything about your project could change. Long-time agile coach and enterprise architect Mario Cardinal shows how to create executable specifications and use them to test software behavior against requirements. Cardinal shows how to trawl requirements incrementally, step-by-step, using a vision-centric and emergent iterative practice that is designed for agility. Writing for analysts, architects, developers, and managers, Cardinal makes a strong case for the iterative discovery of requirements. Then, he moves from theory to practice, fully explaining the technical mechanisms and empirical techniques you need to gain full value from executable specifications. You’ll learn to connect specifications with software under construction, link requirements to architecture, and automate requirements verification within the Scrum framework. Above all, Cardinal will help you solve the paramount challenge of software development: not only to solve the problem right, but also to solve the right problem . You will learn how to • Establish more effective agile roles for analysts and architects • Integrate and simplify the best techniques from FIT, ATDD, and BDD • Identify “core certainties” on which your project team should rely to ensure requirements discovery • Manage uncertainty by discovering stakeholder desires through short feedback loops • Specify as you go while writing small chunks of requirements • Use storyboarding and paper prototyping to improve conversations with stakeholders • Express stakeholder desires that are requirements with user stories • Refine your user stories, and plan more effective Scrum sprints • Confirm user stories by scripting behaviors with scenarios • Transform scenarios into automated tests that easily confirm your software’s expected behavior as designs emerge and specifications evolve • Ensure higher-quality software by specifying nonfunctional requirements

Contents:

About This eBook

Title Page

Copyright Page

Praise for Executable Specifications with Scrum

Dedication Page

Contents

Table of Contents

Figure List

Preface

Goal of This Book

Who Should Read This Book?

Road Map for This Book

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter 1. Solving the Right Problem

Distinguishing the Requirements from the Solution

Recognizing the Impact of Uncertainty

Tackling Uncertainty

Summary

References

Chapter 2. Relying on a Stable Foundation

Defining What Will Hardly Change

Creating a Healthy Team

Requiring the Involvement of All Stakeholders

Expressing a Shared Vision

Distinguishing a Meaningful Common Goal

Identifying a Set of High-Level Features

Validating the "Can-Exist" Assumption

Chapter 3. Discovering Through Short Feedback Loops and Stakeholders' Desirements

Applying the Trial-and-Error Method

Using Short Feedback Loops

Targeting Feedback Along the Expected Benefits

Focusing on the Stakeholders' Desirements

Chapter 4. Expressing Desirements with User Stories

Describing Desirements by Using User Stories

Discovering Desirements by Exploring Roles and Benefits

Establishing a Ubiquitous Language

Recording Desirements by Using a Product Backlog

Chapter 5. Refining User Stories by Grooming the Product Backlog

Managing the Product Backlog

Collaborating to Groom the Product Backlog

Ranking User Stories with a Dot Voting Method

Illustrating User Stories with Storyboards

Sizing User Stories Using Comparison

Splitting User Stories Along Business Values

Tracking User Stories with a Collaboration Board

Delivering a Coherent Set of User Stories

Planning Work with User Stories

References.

Chapter 6. Confirming User Stories with Scenarios

Scripting User Stories with Scenarios

Confirming Collaboratively in a Two-Step Process

Removing Technical Considerations from Scenarios

Evolving Scenarios from Sprint to Sprint

Chapter 7. Automating Confirmation with Acceptance Tests

Evolving Scenarios into Acceptance Tests

Automating Scenarios Using the Red-Green-Refactor Cycle

Translating the Scenario into an Acceptance Test

Connecting the Newly Created Test with the Interface

Implementing the Interface

Evolving the Acceptance Test

Running Acceptance Tests Side-by-Side with Continuous Integration

Enhancing Scenarios with Test Results

Chapter 8. Addressing Nonfunctional Requirements

Improving External Quality Using Restrictions

Ensuring Internal Quality Using Sound Engineering Practices

Chapter 9. Conclusion

Recapitulating the Book

Summarizing the Process

Drawing Attention to Individual Roles

Glossary

Index.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780132776516

0132776510

9780132776509

0132776502

9780132776530

0132776537

OCLC:

857301839