Exploring requirements
by Donald C. Gause · first published 1989
56% recommend44% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Practical guide to the questions to ask before writing software, helping readers understand what a system really does and should do; valued by working engineers and consultants.
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Weinberg's "Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design" is a thought provoking book on defining and managing requirements. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0932633137
on “Scott Berkun: Why requirements stink” ↗Try Business Dynamics by John Sterman. I lent my copy to my brother over a decade ago. Still haven't got it back... Also Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design by Donald Gause and Gerald Weinberg. Really useful advice about questions to ask people to understand what the system really does/should do.
on “How to Safely Think in Systems” ↗Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design by Donald Gause and Gerald Weinberg is a great reference for learning how to ask questions and what questions to ask. https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Exploring_Requirements.html
on “Willingness to look stupid” ↗Weinberg and Gause's Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design is a useful book on "asking the right questions". 1. https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/Exploring_Requirement...
on “What does it take to be a good programmer?” ↗Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design, Gause+Weinberg This book introduced me to the questions I should have been asking before starting to write software and helped me make a lot more money by impressing people with…
on “Ask HN: Name 3-5 books that had the most impact on your career and knowledge?” ↗People need to know about, and read, Donald Gause and Gerald Weinberg's Exploring Requirements: Quality Before Design[1]. If you don't know who Gerry Weinberg is, then look that up too. You will profit from the exercise. 1. https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Exploring_Requirements.html
on “Requirements” ↗I am glad I was able to help you. If you like "The Secrets of Consulting", the next one for you should be "Exploring requirements: quality before design", by Gause & Weinberg. What an eye opener it was for me!
on “My sixth year as a bootstrapped founder” ↗…them: https://leanpub.com/u/jerryweinberg There's the People Skill bundle: https://leanpub.com/b/peopleskillssoftbutdifficult with the books: Are Your Lights On?, What Did You Say? The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback, Exploring Requirements One, Exploring Requirements Two, Becoming a Change Artist, More Secrets of Consulting, and Becoming a Technical Leader But maybe the better for you are his classic The Psychology of Computer Program…
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…"design," UI and UX are only one facet (because strategy, content, and technology are their own components in the larger design space). When I talk about "desire," I'm following Gause and Weinberg in Exploring Requirements, where they say, "[W]e don't know how to figure out what people need, as opposed to what they desire. ... We do observe, however, that by clarifying their desires, people sometimes clarify what they really…
on “UX Myths (2014)” ↗Nice discussion, but doesn't explore nearly enough. As Don Gause and I showed in http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Exploring_Requirements.h..., you can stress more than one word in a sentence. In fact, you can stress two, three, or any number up to the number of words in the sentence. This sounds really weird, but if you say these sentences…
on “"I never said she stole my money" has 7 different meanings depending on the stressed word” ↗…that you haven't previously heard of "Just Enough Software Analysis" confirms me in my impression that there are no standards and no regulation. If you want to git gud, also read "Quality Before Design: Exploring Requirements" by Don Gause and Gerald Weinberg.
on “Programming Is Hard” ↗There are many books on the subject https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-0-387-3561... https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Custome... https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Exploring_Requirements.html There is a lot to say for having conversations with possible users, it helps to have some "visual aids" such as a low fidelity mockup, printed-out screenshots, etc. My current "side project" is…
on “Ask HN: Can you train yourself into having good ideas?” ↗What are your favorite Weinberg books? I've read Are Your Lights On (liked it a lot) and Secrets Of Consulting (just ok). Checking out Exploring Requirements now. Is Exploring Reqs 2 as much worth reading as Exploring Reqs 1, and any other must reads?
on “Requirements” ↗