Agile Software Requirements

The book was written in 2011 and uses/describes the Agile Enterprise Big Picture: Scaled Agile Delivery Model which can be seen as the predecessor or one of the first versions of SAFe. So you can ask yourself does it still makes sense to read this book, or is it outdated?

The book is divided in four parts. In part I you get the big picture showing the organization, process, and artefact that the teams could use. You could say that the used Big Picture is outdated in comparison with SAFe 4.0, but what is written about this picture still makes sense.

In part II the focus is on the team level. What are User Stories and Spikes (both inventions of XP), and how to split them? Who are their stakeholders, how can we use personas and user experience? What does it mean to estimate and what’s the velocity? The importance of the iteration, the heartbeat of agility, the usage of a backlog and Kanban to create a cadence. The lasts chapters explain the role of the Product Owner, testing and a requirements discovery toolkit with many techniques.

Part III puts the practices and techniques that teams of teams can use to manage the requirements at the program level in the spotlights. Specific roles are explained as well as the vision, features, and the roadmap. The Agile Release Train is introduced as well as release planning, the usage of non-functional requirements, use cases and a requirements analysis toolkit.

The last part discusses the highest level with their management and the change of a traditional portfolio management towards a more agile portfolio management view. How to cope with investment themes, epics and portfolio planning and what’s the role of architecture?9780134510545-480x600

Conclusion: As a SAFe trainer it’s good to have a view how SAFe developed in the last 5-6 years. The book will not bring you new insights, it’s the starting point for SAFe. The ScaledAgile website or the SAFe Reference Guide will now give you all the details and even more, too.