Posts Tagged ‘Use Cases’

The Big Remodel

Posted: February 7th, 2012 by Bob Prentiss. Comments »

Architectural Map ruler hatWell it is tax time once again and for some folks it is time to think of remodeling your home. Exciting right? It can be… it can also be a maddening roller coaster ride that is difficult to stop. The next thing you know, you have not only spent your tax refund, but you have invested heavily into a credit card (or two). We all know that this can happen and we all know people that have had remodeling horror stories, yet we still forge ahead and remodel. Why? Repairs, reconstruction, and renovation are common themes (needs) that drive us to remodeling. When it comes to your home they completely make sense. Broken things are not fun to live with, we can get bored with the same ol’, same ol’ and the value needs to be kept up while we are waiting for the market to rebound. But what about our requirements – the models we put together that help our stakeholders clearly understand the problem or opportunity we are trying to solve or present? Does remodeling make sense?

7 Trends in Business Analysis and Project Management to Watch for in 2012

Posted: January 9th, 2012 by ElizabethLarson. Comments »

By Elizabeth Larson, PMP, CBAP, CSM and Richard Larson PMP, CBAP

The close of one year tends to make one reflect on what has occurred in the past year and ponder the future. Here we ponder some trends in the Project Management and Business Analysis fields for 2012. Here are our top seven predictions for business analysts (BAs) and project managers (PMs) in 2012.

1. Divergence of the PM and BA Role. In 2009 we predicted that as the economy tightened, organizations would decrease their project budgets and combine the role of PM and BA. For 2012 we believe that organizations will see the need for both roles, particularly on strategic projects, and move away from a combined role. There are several factors for this trend:

Why Spend Time on Use Cases in Agile Projects?

Posted: December 2nd, 2011 by RichLarson. Comments »

Why Spend Time on Use Cases?Someone at a recent conference asked me how to respond to project stakeholders when they say that Use Cases take too long in an agile environment.  I was presenting a talk on “BA Toolkit for an Agile Project (or any other for that matter).”  Here are my answers with some added depth. (Thanks to Justin Roebuck for the great question.)

Scenarios and Use Cases – Useful Techniques

Posted: July 9th, 2010 by RichLarson. Comments »

In continuing to cover all 49 BABOK® techniques, this entry is about scenarios/use cases.

UC Diagram-Training Example

UC Diagram-Training Example

Since most people refer to these as use cases, that’s the name I’ll use. They are a great way to elicit, analyze, and model interaction requirements. Plus, they help generate related requirements for interfaces, data, process, and business rules.

I gave a use case training class last week, so it’s fresh in my mind. It also influenced me to put this explanation in question and answer form.

Q. What is a use case?