1 80-Proof Infant

This article makes a lot of sense and is useful for “rational” clients. Other clients eat use-cases for lunch and will whittle down your nerves to scattered sawdust and reject all reason like a baby rejects whisky (they prefer milk).

posted at 08:41 am on March 2, 2005 by Andrew

2 Every little helps

I agree, in that while the majority of clients would find this a useful and approachable way to ensure both parties are clear, there are always going to be some that make it difficult.

However an approach that helps in the majority of cases is by no means a bad thing.

I guess it would always really come down to having a good well worded contract, just in case.

posted at 06:51 am on March 3, 2005 by Don

3 More info

I really enjoyed this series of articles, I would like to see more articles, or at least some links, related to project management and planning. There seems to be so much useful information out there that you never learn in a class. Maybe just a list of suggested books. What do the best project managers do?

posted at 07:37 am on March 3, 2005 by Tim

4 Nice read...

Yet another great article!

posted at 07:22 am on March 4, 2005 by Parrfolio

5 UML is a great tool

UML’s strongest point is allowing the devleoper to layout the way an application will function before doing any coding. Using UML as a development tool cuts down on risk and allows clients to get more of a visual representation of how the finished product will function. This allows changes to be made with much less effort, providing more flexibility in the development process.

posted at 03:07 pm on March 4, 2005 by Dylan Berry

6 Great Topic!

Being a Management Information Systems major I have learned all about the importance of using UML to help understand system requirements and have a better planned web experience. On to process flows!

I think it is great that ALA is discussing these UML techniques in order to help web designers better integrate their site into the clients business practices and save themselves time during development.

Keep up the great work ALA!

posted at 07:04 pm on March 4, 2005 by Dave

7 All very well but...

This is all very well for something simple like weblogs but what about more complicated concepts. For instance lets say you have a recutment agency, thus you you have types of visitors, the recuters and recutees: you’re client may also want a recomendation system built in and already the diagram doesn’t fit on a page.

posted at 12:53 am on March 5, 2005 by Paul Carpenter

8 UML - An excellent tool

Use-cases really do help bridge the gap between the developers and the client. I’ve tried it before and it works very well.

Not just use-cases but activity diagrams and other great UML applications.

Great article, keep up the good work.

posted at 01:40 pm on March 6, 2005 by David Jones

9 RE: All very well but...

Articles like this concern me a touch. Although the Use Cases can be a powerful tool, they can be dangerous if used by inexperienced people.

Use Cases should be textual and written using a Word Processor. This article does not have a single example of a Use Case scenario written out in full, and there is no mention of Exception cases or Alternate flows. This strikes me as a little odd considering the authors recommend Alistair Cockburn’s book (which is well worth a read by the way).

The focus is on a Use Case Diagram that is only really a side issue to what Use Cases are all about. Maybe Norm Carr & Tim Meehan could be persuaded to do a part three describing both a Fully Dressed and Casual Use Case document? Other forms of Use Case control like Actor Goal lists and Levelling would also be useful.

Anyway, I hope this does not dissuade anyone from investigating Use Cases further. When done well they can save your team huge amounts of time and drastically improve the relationship with your client.

posted at 01:49 pm on March 6, 2005 by Martin Brown

10 Great article

Keep up the great work! But how about maybe a little more elaborate/in-depth?

posted at 02:35 pm on March 6, 2005 by Ivan

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