Re: Use Cases
Can anyone provide me with an example of a use case that has actually WORKED
(read: was useful) in Real Life? We have some use cases that were developed
for us, and I, as well as the programmer, am just not finding them useful
whatsoever. The programmer is saying that there is info. in there that
shouldn't be (such as "the user clicks the "Submit" button to submit the
information"--he's saying that's going into the screen design. The use cases
are also spelling out exactly what the error messages should say and he
doesn't like that either.)
The person doing the use cases is saying she's "going right by the book". I
have no formal training in RUP, unfortunately, and the use cases I've seen
seem like a big waste of time--I'm just not seeing the value in them. So I
thought if I could see a useful one, I might be able to get a better idea of
what a good one looks like. Alternatively, I could send one of ours to
someone experienced in this area and see what you think.
The company I just got laid-off from was trying to use Use Cases in the Rational Unified Method.
[editorial comment]Considering that the effort to implement Rational, the methodology and the software caused the layoff of 3/4 of the R&D software staff and the out-sourcing of the software writing to an off-shore company, I have little faith in them.[/editorial comment]
That said, we used Use Cases to describe each action of the actors in our process, which was a software product that enabled us to process rebate applications. This meant that a Use Case detailed the screen action and the information transferred. It did not necessarily include what button to push unless there were screens already extant. It did use language like "save", enter, and so forth.
Scott
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Announcing new options for IPCC 01, October 24-27 in Santa Fe,
New Mexico: attend the entire event or select a single day. For details and online registration, visit http://ieeepcs.org/2001
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
References:
Use Cases: From: Kelly Williamson
Previous by Author:
RE: Layoff logistics and etiquette
Next by Author:
RE: Cross-References in Word
Previous by Thread:
RE: Use Cases
Next by Thread:
RE: Use Cases
Search our Technical Writing Archives & Magazine
Visit TechWhirl's Other Sites
Sponsored Ads