Re: Books/Guidelines on Writing Functional Requirements?

[Lisa Higgins <lisarea -at- LUCENT -dot- COM>]

So then, Kathy Borgtodd is all like:

> In this new capacity, I am required to read (sometimes over and
> over) functional specifications for our products. The styles of
> our functional specs vary wildly from product to product. Can
> anyone on this list point me the way to a good text, primer, or
> workshop on how to write effective and consistent functional
> requirements for business applications? I HAVE ordered the IEEE
> standard, which I hope will give me some guidance, but I am
> hoping some of you out there can point me in the right direction.

I can! Oooh! Ooooh! Pick me!

I'd strongly recommend a new book by Ben Kovitz on requirements
specifications. I can't get outside the firewall right now, and I
don't know the title of the final book, and I haven't actually read
the final version. And actually, I'm not even positive it's on the
shelves yet. Gargh. I do know, however, that Ben has some really
unique, common-sense* ideas about writing clear, understandable
requirements. It's almost disturbing how passionate and knowledgeable
this man is about requirements. His ideas are elegant and pragmatic,
and the book deserves at least a read-through. And I'm not just
saying this because he dropped everything and drove 35 miles on icy
streets to help me move when the moving company stood me up last
December.

You  can find the book on Amazon.com by looking for 'Kovitz'

Lisa.
lisarea -at- lucent -dot- com

*This should be an oxymoron, but it's more of a tautology in
corporate America.


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