Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Managing Software Requirements or When Corporations Rule the World

Managing Software Requirements: A Use Case Approach (Addison-Wesley Object Technology Series)

Author: Dean Leffingwell

"Many projects fail because developers fail to build the right thing. Developers of any kind of application should read this book." —Grady Booch
"A comprehensive solution to the requirements challenges faced by every development team. Full of insight and ideas all developers can learn from." —Ivar Jacobson
Despite the wealth of development knowledge, experience, and tools available today, a substantial percentage of software projects fail, often because requirements are not correctly determined and defined at the outset, or are not managed correctly as the project unfolds. This second edition of the popular text Managing Software Requirements focuses on this critical cause of failure and offers a practical, proven approach to building systems that meet customers' needs on time and within budget.
Using an accessible style, their own war stories, and a comprehensive case study, the authors show how analysts an d developers can effectively identify requirements by applying a variety of techniques, centered on the power of use cases. The book illustrates proven techniques for determining, implementing, and validating requirements. It describes six vital Team Skills for managing requirements throughout the lifecycle of a project: Analyzing the Problem, Understanding User Needs, Defining the System, Managing Scope, Refining the System Definition, and Building the Right System. Managing Software Requirements, Second Edition, specifically addresses the ongoing challenge of managing change and describes a process for assuring that project scope is successfully defined and agreed upon by all stakeholders.Topicscovered include:


  • The five steps in problem analysis

  • Business modeling and system engineering

  • Techniques for eliciting requirements from customers and stakeholders

  • Establishing and managing project scope

  • Applying and refining use cases

  • Product management

  • Transitioning from requirements to design and implementation

  • Transitioning from use cases to test cases

  • Agile requirements methods

032112247XB05082003



Table of Contents:

41< TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="RIGHT">207< TR>
Foreword
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Introduction1
Ch. 1The Requirements Problem5
Ch. 2Introduction to Requirements Management15
Ch. 3Requirements and the Software Lifecycle23
Ch. 4The Software Team33
Team Skill 1Analyzing the Problem
Ch. 5The Five Steps in Problem Analysis43
Ch. 6Business Modeling59
Ch. 7Systems Engineering of Software-Intensive Systems67
Team Skill 2Understanding User and Stakeholder Needs87
Ch. 8The Challenge of Requirements Elicitation89
Ch. 9The Features of a Product or System95
Ch. 10Interviewing101
Ch. 11Requirements Workshops109
Ch. 12Brainstorming and Idea Reduction119
Ch. 13Storyboarding133
Team Skill 3Defining the System143
Ch. 14A Use Case Primer147
Ch. 15Organizing Requirements Information165
Ch. 16The Vision Document173
Ch. 17Product Management183
Team Skill 4Managing Scope203
Ch. 18Establishing Project Scope
Ch. 19Managing Your Customer223
Team Skill 5Refining the System Definition229
Ch. 20Software Requirements - A More Rigorous Look231
Ch. 21Refining the Use Cases243
Ch. 22Developing the Supplementary Specification257
Ch. 23On Ambiguity and Specificity271
Ch. 24Technical Methods for Specifying Requirements279
Team Skill 6Building the Right System 289
Ch. 25From Use Cases to Implementation291
Ch. 26From Use Cases to Test Cases305
Ch. 27Tracing Requirements319
Ch. 28Managing Change337
Ch. 29Assessing Requirements Quality in Iterative Development355
Getting Started375
Ch. 30Agile Requirements Methods383
Ch. 31Your Prescription for Requirements Management399App. AHOLIS Artifacts407
App. BVision Document Template437
App. CUse-Case Specification Template449
App. DSupplementary Specification Template453
App. ERequirements Management in the Rational Unified Process459
App. FRequirements Management in the SEI-CMM and with ISO 9000:2000473
Bibliography483
Index487

Book review: Finite Mathematics or Financial Accounting

When Corporations Rule the World: SECOND EDITION

Author: David C Korten

In his new edition of When Corporations Rule the World, David Korten updates the reader as to the deepening human crisis of the global economy. The gap between the rich and poor continues to grow, and the planet continues to be exploited. He writes of the new global citizens movement of activism in response to corporate globalization, the efforts of civil society groups to restructure global economic governance and focuses on the role of spirit and culture in a "civil-ized" society.

ForeWord Magazine - Cindy Patuszynski

Vivid imagery and original ideas make The Post-Corporate World an interesting and thought-provoking perspective of Korten's view of global society.

Andrea Martin

...[W[ith thrilling clarity, discusses practical ways to create a just, sustainable and compassionate society. —Utne Reader

Publishers Weekly

This well-documented, apocalyptic tome describes the global spread of corporate power as a malignant cancer exercising a market tyranny that is gradually destroying lives, democratic institutions and the ecosystem for the benefit of greedy companies and investors. Korten (Getting to the 21st Century) points out his conservative roots and business credentials-and then proceeds to finger such classic conspiracy-theory scapegoats as the Trilateral Commission and Council on Foreign Relations as the planning agents of the new world economic order he decries. Korten, founder of the People-Centered Development Forum, prescribes a reordering of developmental priorities to restore local control and benefits. Suggested reforms include shifting tax policies to punish greed and reward social responsibility, placing a 100% reserve requirement on demand deposits at banks and closing the World Bank, which he claims encourages indebtedness in nations that can 't afford it. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"In the 1980s capitalism triumphed over communism. In the 1990s it triumphed over democracy and the market economy." So begins The Post-Corporate World: Life After Capitalism, the latest salvo from David C. Korten (When Corporations Rule the World). In four sections of three or four chapters each, Korten lays out how it happened and what we can do about it, using model communities that have already begun to "treat money as a facilitator, not the purpose, of our economic lives."

Library Journal

For 30 years, Korten toiled as a development worker seeking to end the poverty of the world's underdeveloped nations. In that time, he noted a stark difference between capitalism's democratic myth and the reality of social, economic, and environmental deterioration that accompanied such efforts. In this intriguing sequel to When Corporations Rule the World (Berrett-Koehler, 1995), Korten identifies the root causes of these fai lures as consumerism, market deregulation, free trade, privatization, global consolidation of corporate power, a focus on money as purpose for economic life, and corruption of our democratic institutions. His solutions prescribe excluding corporations from political participation, implementing serious political campaign reform, eliminating corporate welfare, regulating international corporations and finance, making financial speculation unprofitable, reestablishing locally owned and managed economies that rely predominantly on local resources, and focusing on service to life, not money, as the purpose of our economic existence. Korten makes a good case, but his solutions won't necessarily fly in the face of reality. Still, his book should find a receptive audience in both academic and public libraries.--Norman B. Hutcherson, Kern Cty. Lib., Bakersfield, CA

Library Journal

Korten (Getting to the Twenty-First Century, Kumarian Pr., 1990) brings impressive credentials to the task of blaming large international corporations for many of the social and environmental problems confronting people all over the world. Using numerous well-researched examples, Korten argues that not only do today's corporations exploit labor and the environment, but governments (particularly the U.S. government), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, aid and abet this exploitation through policies that favor capitalists over workers and small business. Although Korten speaks from an obviously liberal position, in an era when conservative political voices declare an unswerving faith in the benefits of unfettered free markets, a voice from the opposition offers a welcome balance. Recommended for public and academic libraries.-Andrea C. Dragon, Coll. of St. Elizabeth, Convent Station, N.J.

Booknews

While protestors at the WTO meetings in Seattle and at similar meetings of the global financial institutions have been derided as ill-informed troublemakers by the majority of the press, Korten (former advisor to the Ford Foundation and U.S. Agency for International Development) argues that their concerns about increasingly centralized corporate power are essentially right. He outlines the evolution of corporate power over the economy and governance worldwide, while acknowledging the severe depredations it causes to millions around the world. After looking at many facets of the problem in financial systems, flawed economic analyses, declining democratic institutions, and other aspects of growing corporate power, he offers some solutions. He grounds his alternative in a theory he calls the "Ecological Revolution" that would attempt to localize economies, while globalizing cooperation among communities. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (bookne ws.com)

Andrea Martin

...[W[ith thrilling clarity, discusses practical ways to create a just, sustainable and compassionate society. -- Utne Reader

Kirkus Reviews

In the '80s, capitalism defeated communism. Now it has defeated democracy, we are informed by Korten (When Corporations Rule the World). Capitalism is inimical to life, he declares, and he thinks, naturally enough, that life is better. The author, a former Harvard Business School teacher, depicts the doleful condition on our sad little planet. He objects to the wayward thinking of proponents of what he calls a "dead universe" governed by inhumanly impersonal corporations. Midas was wrong. Life and money do not mix. Humanity, as a functioning organism, can make a better choice. It can reject the power of international business, bent on amassing hegemony and cash at any cost. Corporations, to put it baldly, are soul destroying and inherently evil. They are merging and metastasizing w orldwide. The unfortunate current primacy of cash returns to shareholders bodes ill. Corporations destroy natural assets and human institutions and exploit workers—this is the author's angry preachment. (The reader must conclude that the term "corporation" is simple synecdoche, standing in for Mammon as Capitalist). Korten is preaching a kind of Zen: We must learn the lessons of life's ancient wisdom and stop the foolishness now. Without a shift to ethical and mindful markets and the local rooting of capital, we are doomed, saith Korten. Reject NAFTA, the WTO, and the IMF as ultimately destructive forces. Corporations should not, as is presently the case, be accorded the status of personhood or be recipients of governmental largess. Economic democracy must be advanced, but can the change happen? The author thinks so, pointing to signs of postmodern populism and grassroots humanitarianism. Staytuned. Less a full-scale program for action than a life-affirming pep talk . An amalgam of physics, biology, and politics, with a dollop of philosophy, this manifesto is as troublesome as any zealot's call for morality.

What People Are Saying

Ralph Nader
Building on the electrifying, best-selling first edition of When Corporations Rule the World, this new edition expands and updates Korten's laser-like analysis of how global corporations dominate people and their governments, and the miserable conditions that result when the few rule the many.  Korten then shows practical pathways to a realizable future of more just, prosperous, and sustainable societies. This book will agitate your mind, elevate your soul, and engage your civic spirit.


Desmond Tutu
This is a 'must read' book -- a searing indictment of an unjust international economic order, not by a wild-eyed idealistic left-winger, but by a sober scion of the establishment with impeccable credentials.  It left me devastated but also very hopeful.  Something can be done to create a more just economic order.


Danny Glover
Like many of the people who in November 1999 attended the WTO Teach-ins in Seattle, I was motivated to be there because of David Korten's work.  When Corporations Rule the World continues to be at the very center of this expanding global dialogue and invites us all to become participants in what I believe to be a sacred trust to create a world that works for all.




Table of Contents:

103
Acknowledgments
Prologue: A Personal Journey1
1From Hope to Crisis17
2End of the Open Frontier25
3The Growth Illusion37
4Rise of Corporate Power in America53
5Assault of the Corporate Libertarians69
6Decline of Democratic Pluralism87
7Illusions of the Cloud Minders
8Dreaming of Global Empires121
9Building Elite Consensus133
10Buying Out Democracy141
11Marketing the World149
12Adjusting the Poor159
13Guaranteeing Corporate Rights173
14The Money Game185
15Predatory Finance195
16Corporate Cannibalism2 07
17Managed Competition215
18Race to the Bottom229
19The End of Inefficiency239
20People with No Place249
21The Ecological Revolution261
22Good Living277
23An Awakened Civil Society293
24Agenda for Change307
Epilogue: A Choice for Life325
Appendix: The People's Earth Declaration: A Proactive Agenda for the Future329
Notes335
Index361
About the Author375

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