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Exploring Requirements:
Quality Before Design

by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg

*Now in softcover, at a lower price*

ISBN: 978-0-932633-73-6  
©1989  320 pages   softcover  
$39.95 (plus shipping)

Subject(s): Requirements Engineering, Systems Analysis, Systems Design

For customers interested in the hardcover edition: Please note that we have a limited number of hardcover edition books (ISBN: 978-0-932633-13-2), available for their original price of $44.95, plus shipping. Contact us via e-mail, telephone, or fax to request hardcovers.

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One of the Most Referenced and Praised Texts on Requirements Analysis

About the Book

The scholar John von Neumann once said, "There's no sense being exact about something if you don't even know what you're talking about."In a world that is growing increasingly dependent on highly complex, computer-based systems, the importance of defining what you want to make before making it—that is, knowing what you're talking about—cannot be stressed enough.

Here's an innovative book that gives you the understanding you need to give people the solutions they want. The collaborative team of Gause and Weinberg tells how you can assure the requirements are right—before the product is designed.

Written by two recognized authorities in the field, this book is a collection of ideas developed, refined, and tested during their more than sixty combined years of work with both large and small organizations.

The techniques formulated in Exploring Requirements are not confined to software development; they have been used effectively to develop a wide range of products and systems—from computer software to furniture, books, and buildings.

Systems analysts and anyone involved with the challenges of the requirements process will greatly benefit from this book.


Reviews

"Consciousness raising for systems analysts."

Tom Demarco
Principal, Atlantic Systems Guild


"It's likely that this book will not only give you concrete ways to improve our requirements gathering process, but will also change the way that you look at requirements."

Elisabeth Hendrickson,
Quality Tree Consulting


"Twelve years after it first appeared, this book is completely relevant to today's development projects.

". . . most companies would benefit greatly from improving the way they define requirements. This book will help you do that, and I recommend it to anyone who has anything to do with software development."

 —Richard Mateosian,
IEEE Micro


"Anyone who wants to build a product should understand this book."

 —Watts S. Humphrey,
Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University


". . . a superb new book on systems analysis. . . . you simply must read and absorb this gem. It complements every brand-name systems analysis methodology currently being practiced."

 —Ed Yourdon,
American Programmer


". . . provides an excellent set of principles amply illustrated by relevant and thought-provoking examples."

 —Barry Boehm, UCLA


"This extraordinary book grabbed me from the Preface through to its end. Well written, readable, and paced comfortably. . . . Highly recommended. . . . sure to change how you develop requirements for your projects."

 —John L. Berg,
Computer Standards & Interfaces


". . . makes a very important, serious subject fun and easy to read."

 —Bill Loveless,
PC News & Reviews


"The Freedman and Weinberg book is full of tricks for eliciting from users what they cannot express without your help and for testing to see if your understanding of user needs is correct.

"It is impossible to overemphasize the value of this. Errors that you make in eliciting user requirements can be very expensive to fix. Any software engineering book will tell you this. What the software engineering books don't tell you is that it also can be expensive to give users what they say they want instead of what they need."

J. Adrian Zimmer,
Editor, Journal of Software Maintenance


"There are not very many technical books on specification from over a decade ago that people still keenly read, enjoy, and recommend to their colleagues, but this is such a one . . . it takes a clear head to reflect on what is really happening, and then to look ahead to what ought to be done about it. It is even better if the book is not only visionary and sharp on the essential principles of a domain, but also delightfully funny and spicy. This book is."

Ian Alexander,
http://i.f.alexander.users.btopenworld.com


"There is no book in the software industry before or since Exploring Requirements that has as much to say about the integration of creativity with the software design process. I have been in the systems industry, in a variety of positions since 1974, and this book is my all time number one reference."

Jim Adamski,
jim.adamski@entellic.com

Features
Reviews
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction to Part I, "Negotiating a Common Understanding"

Chapter 2, "Ambiguity in Stating Requirements"

Downloads
Dorset House Catalog
This Book's Flyer

By this Author
Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is
Quality Software Management, Vol. 4: Anticipating Change

Also Recommended

Complete Systems Analysis: The Workbook, the Textbook, the Answers, by James Robertson and Suzanne Robertson

General Principles of Systems Design, by Gerald M. Weinberg and Daniela Weinberg

The Practical Guide to Business Process Reengineering Using IDEF0, by Clarence G. Feldmann

Process for System Architecture and Requirements Engineering, by Hatley, Hruschka, and Pirbhai

To Satisfy & Delight Your Customer: How to Manage for Customer Value, by William J. Pardee

How to Order

To order this book by credit card directly from Dorset House in New York, please call (800) 342-6657 or (212) 620-4053, weekdays, 9am to 6pm. Alternatively, print out our Faxable Order Form and fax to (212) 727-1044.

To order this book from an online bookstore, please see above.

To purchase at a bookstore, contact our Recommended Booksellers to verify availability. Any store can order from Dorset House using the book's title and ISBN number. Also, bookstores can order our books through Baker & Taylor.

We'd like to make it easy for you to order, so please contact us at any time for help!

  DORSET HOUSE PUBLISHING CO., INC.
New:3143 Broadway, Suite 2B  New York, New York 10027  USA
1-800-DH-BOOKS or 212-620-4053, fax 212-727-1044
Copyright © 1996-2008 by Dorset House Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
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