Why?
Even 'though Use Cases started to become popular around 1995, the use of Use Cases is "all over the map" and is not unlike object-oriented implementation was around 1990. If you read 10 books or talk to 10 projects that are capturing their requirements using Use Cases, you're likely to find that a majority of these talk about some very different approaches.
There are also some issues that have not yet been effectively dealt with in the literature. In particular, how do Use Cases relate to information analysis and the myriad of detailed behavioral requirements ("business rules") that are necessary to fully specify the software requirements.
Fortunately, Mr. Derman has been working with Use Cases since the early 1990's and has had the opportunity to work with some of Ivar Jacobson's original team members (Ivar is considered the "father of Use Cases" and his company's team was acquired by Rational Software in the 1990's). Both the acceleration of working with 5-year+ Use Case experts in the mid-1990's and Mr. Derman's own extensive experience enable him to deal with these, and other issues, with world-class expertise.
Together, what can we do?
We can help your team:
- Become proficient at using Use Cases to capture software requirements
- Utilize Use Cases to drive a major part of the software development activities
Specifically, we do this via:
- Use Case Training: We offer 1 to 1-1/2 day on-site seminar, normally followed by a 1/2 to 1-1/2 day workshop that prefers to use actual project-related workproducts, depending upon the project's progress and status. Often the initial 1/2 to 1 day is attended by management and/or customers/stakeholders.
- Mentoring: On-site mentoring normally spans multiple activities:
- Working directly with a team or a small collection of teams as an "on line" source of expertise while some initial Use Cases are being developed.
- Working with the management team to help develop plans and tactical strategies as well as report issues, make recommendations and report progress.
- Participating heavily in workproduct/artifact reviews.
- Helping produce customized template artifacts, often from a basis we supply.
- Off-Site/On-going Reviews: On-going, use-case reviews are aimed at ensuring that "wrong turns" don't occur after the on-site involvement ceases.
