Software Requirements Essentials: Core Practices for Successful Business Analysis

So, like all the other nerdy BAs around the world, I've couldn't wait to read Karl Wieger and Candase Hokanson's recent book: Software Requirements Essentials. So I'm happy to report that it is as EXCELLENT, as hoped! 🖤 It summarises what I do as a BA working with technology teams building stuff, far better than I've ever done. There's LOTS of things I want to highlight from the book (I've got over 10 tabs marking parts I want to be able to reference easily) but I think the themes made me more happy than "themes" have any right to do. Here are Karl and Candase's underpinning themes for requirements: 💜 Requirements development demands an incremental and iterative approach. 💙 The goal of all specification activities is clear and effective communication. 🩵 Requirements engineering is a collaborative activity. 💚 Quality activities should be pushed to the front. 💛 Risk thinking is essential. 🧡 Change happens. 👆 SUCH a north star of values to aspire to doing great business analysis while building great software! I was very relieved to discover that while they use "feature trees" where I would use a story map, all the practices represented things that I try to do! (In saying that, I've already turned the 20 practices into a checklist to keep me thorough). So, if you want to work in IT development, I could not recommend the book more. And at 156 pages (ignoring appendixes and the index) it is a remarkably easy read for such solid advice. I'm going to keep this book on the shelf by my desk. Which is the highest praise I can offer a book. 📚🖤

I habe enjoyed Karl's formers books so I was looking forward to this release by Pearson. For long time software people, most science books with the word "Essentials" do great, but they must still have great content and "Software Requirements Essentials". Since the title us new, I am reviewing after my first skim of the book, only reading closely to sections that discuss challenging areas for me as a business analyst. Which brings me to one of the benefits of this book. Karl discusses who does Requirement development (elicitation and analysis) and management as a role, compared to the titles of those who may perform that role. As someone who thinks titles matter as well as roles, I was glad to see that Karl assesses that today most of the old titles have consolidated to " business analyst"; which is my experience with Agile development teams. Were there any things I would change? For the most part, this will be my new reference because it reflects the state of the art, as I know it in my past 8+ years as a business analyst, and I will have to read it closely to mine gold. However, Karl also mentions some older models, like IDEF0 and DFD, that made me wonder if a footnote would have been better. Although modeling notation is expected to change, I think BPMN, UML, and ERD are still relevant. But in the whole, Karl gives any level of business analyst a smorgasbord of wisdom, insight, and practical advice based on experience. And that is worth much more than the retail price of the book.

I first read one of Karl's books (Software Requirements) about 20 years ago. It vastly improved my career. In the years since, a new (albeit wonderful) problem has been: more and more good material was being published, by Karl (with and without great co-authors such as Candase) and other authors in the field. I could not keep up; I got "reader fatigue." One of my clients was a large Federal agency, and candidly my direct client told me that if the programmers read everything they were expected to, she didn't see how there would be enough hours in the day remaining to also apply the information gleaned, and get actual productive work done. I relate, so oftentimes I skim instead of reading. Karl and Candase address this cultural concern by offering not just good and helpful information but doing so in a highly compact, distilled format. I have read (or skimmed) many good books in the field of requirements engineering but I have never read something so concentrated. Even so, these are not "Cliff Notes" ... god spirit and style are intact, just really compact. [In the interest of full disclosure: I saw this book take shape since I was one of the book reviewers during its creation.]

There are many good requirements books on the market. I’m slightly biased about a couple, so when I say this one is really good, I mean it! They have condensed a wealth of information into a compact and digestible format, so you don’t have to actually read 600 pages to learn to be a great BA. Karl produces nothing but excellent books, so it’s no surprise this one is also outstanding! And given her extensive experience and passion in the agile space, Karl did something smart by bringing in Candase as a co-author. Good requirements are necessary for any successful software project, whether using traditional or agile approaches. This book tackles how to do solid requirements work for both types of approaches. They bring insightful stories from real projects to help make their points, making it entertaining to read. I hope you all found it as interesting and useful as I did!

What I like most about this book - the benefits it may have across a wide audience and types of projects. As a business analysis consultant and coach, this has always been important to me and my clients. Different roles, different approaches to business analysis (Agile, Waterfall or Hybrids), different experience levels. If you are a project manager also doing the business analysis activities, what do you focus on? It highlights the important stuff regardless of approach. For the inexperienced, this book focuses on the most important practices that address the business analysis challenges we will likely face, especially when we can't stop for formal training, or to perform in-depth research, or can't find a mentor. How can I prevent getting into trouble? For the experienced business analyst, it may be a valuable "memory jogger". Worth having this book on your shelf - physically or digitally.

There are a lot of "how to" books about software requirements out there, and a lot of them are pretty heavy reading. This book, on the other hand, gets right to the point of explaining what every requirements practitioner needs to know to improve their practice and get better results on their projects. Two of the best features of the book are its clear, sequential structure and the useful anecdotes provided by the authors to illustrate the point without delving into tedious personal narratives. I highly recommend this book for any software project professional who is looking to improve their skills and understanding of their craft.

I had the privelege of having Karl and Candase on our webinar presenting the 20 practices suggested in this book. I have completed the book and even with 28 years experience I still found value to improve my own capabilities. Whether you are an aspiring business analyst or an experienced one this book is a must. It clear states the process in a logical and easy to read way. Examples from the authors own experience helps to understand the points made. It is probably one of those books that will be near me in every project I work on.

How do you write great requirements? How do you know when you’re done? If you read this book, you will learn. Whether you’re a seasoned Business Analyst or a newbie, regardless of the methodology you use, this short, concise book will you keep you focused on what you need to do to ensure you are successful. Software Requirements Essentials is packed with examples that can be applied to any situation and concepts that can be applied to any project or product. I recommend this book to anyone responsible for software requirements, it will keep you focused on the most important things you should be doing to build the “right” solution.