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From: "Robert Klemme" <robert.klemme@1:261/38.remove-qhs-this>
Subject: Re: Who gets interviewed to produce use cases?
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Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2012 19:04:14 GMT
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  To: David Lamb
From: Robert Klemme <shortcutter@googlemail.com>

On 08/07/2012 08:26 PM, David Lamb wrote:
> Does anyone have data, or at least an informed opinion, on how often
> genuine users of a proposed piece of software get consulted on
> developing use cases (or some close equivalent)? I ask here because of
> the recent UML discussion and because I've seen people, especially Lew,
> mention use cases reasonably frequently.
>
> In an informal discussion with a colleague I was arguing based on things
> I'd read that "modern best practices" recommended interviewing the
> people who will actually use a software system in their jobs, rather
> than only upper management or professional consultants. He said the
> industry standard was to resell an old system to new customers and
> charge for every small attempt to get it to work the way the customers
> wanted.
>
> Is he being excessively cynical, or am I being excessively naive? Does
> anyone know which of us is closer to right? Is the answer different for
> the Java and object-oriented-development community than it is for other
> developers?

I actually believe you could both be right: it is in fact modern practice to do 
so - but the practice might not be applied widely.  Often the people who decide 
about a software purchase and those who use it are not identical.

It may be worse with web applications: there users are often not in the same 
organization as the one who actually puts the money on the table. Users might 
be asked when the product is operational already - or never.

In telco industries there are exist a lot of specifications.  There is is 
common practice to compare the sub set of the standard a customer needs with 
the published compatibility documents of a vendor.  Often other aspects are 
given less weight, for example usability.  But customers actually describe use 
cases they want to have implemented. Although these are often more formal than 
the term suggests (i.e. contain specific protocol definitions).

Kind regards

        robert

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