There are three cornerstones of Use Case Engineering (UCE): 1) Analysis; 2) Design; 3) Certify. That is:
- Analyze the users needs
- Design to fit those needs
- Certify that the needs are fulfilled
Guess what? Needs are Use Cases!
Whether you are analyzing, designing for implementation of the Use Cases or certifying/testing using Use Cases (remember, Use Cases are Test Cases!), Use Cases are driving these activities.
Lean Agile Story (and feature for that matter) is from a user’s perspective given a certain scenario (scenario is an interesting instance of a Use Case) that brings a perceived value/benefit to the user. Likewise is true for Use Case. Hence the use of Use Case in the Lean Agile world is natural, makes perfect sense, compelling to use for feature development and feature decomposition … and a powerful addition to the Lean Agile toolbox!
There are two core concepts in Use Case: 1) Actors ; 2) Use Cases
An Actor:
- Everything that interacts with the system represents an Actor, humans as well as machines
- By focusing on the Actors you concentrate on how the system will be used instead of how it will be built or implemented
A Use Case:
- A Use Case is a way to use the system, a user’s need
- A Use Case is a sequence of transactions offered by the system, which produces a perceived value to meet the goal of a particular Actor
To be continued…
