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The Requirements Engineering Handbook (Artech House Technology Management and Professional Development Library) Review by D. Smith
Practical desktop reference guide for Requirements Analysts
I was eager to get a copy of this follow-up to Dr Young's "Effective Requirements Practices" (ERP) because ERP is one of my favourite requirements books -- and on first review, its sibling looks to be an excellent companion volume. Where ERP laid out 10 key requirements practices and focused on *what* to do, the Requirements Engineering Handbook (REH) covers *how* to do it -- the process, tools, and techniques to help identify what Dr Young calls "REAL" requirements.
The REH discusses the roles, skills, and characteristics a Requirements Analyst (RA) needs to be effective. It defines over 20 types of requirements, and tells you how to gather and manage them. Like Steve McConnell does in his excellent project management books, Ralph Young sets all of this in a context that helps if you're using the CMMI, but doesn't require it. He also adds case studies and sidebar commentaries from both luminaries and run-of-the mill RAs (which helped convince me I could really do this stuff on my project!)
Like ERP, REH is extensively footnoted, with a very complete and current set of references & URLs that makes it essentially an index into the requirements body of knowledge. This Handbook is concise (215 pp, plus glossary & 10 pg bibliography), so when looking for references, it's sometimes even faster than Google, because you get several footnotes that summarize the most appropriate literature, and help you get directly to relevant additional sources.
You don't get a CD like ERP had, but many of the techniques reference templates or guides that can be freely downloaded from the author's website. It's an easy read, and nicely laid out so you can find things when thumbing through. Good Stuff!