Practical Software Requirements: A Manual of Content and Style

"Authored with an eye toward the novice, Practical Software Requirements is a comprehensive guidebook for drafting project requirements. The author's in-depth examination includes non-hierarchical ways to break down complex problems, elements of the problem domain, and different information needed to address different problem types.

An extensive style section addresses the detail of making information understandable focusing on how to group and sequence topics, writing definitions, and how to avoid boring the reader. Filled with examples this title should be considered required reading BEFORE graduation!" -- CompBookReview.com, October 99

"It takes an outstanding writer to bring an unexciting topic to life, and in this era of hype-ridden tomes about Java, open source software, Microsoft lawsuits, Year 2000, and .com "best practices," I was frankly skeptical about staying awake through a book on software requirements. However, Kovitz pulled it off in a way that's thorough as well as captivating, with copious examples." -- Alan Zeichick for Software Development, July, 1999

"Kovitz presents a very different view of requirements engineering from the prevailing view. I found the book to be quite excellent. This is quite a refreshing view. In addition, the author has an online discussion forum where readers can ask questions and receive direct help from the author. I found this to be an excellent resource, and the author is to be commended for such participation and dedication." -- Slashdot.org, October 99

"Kovitz starts by demolishing "the myth of functional decomposition" (which is actually the title of Section 1.1). As he points out, a good engineer is one who knows a lot about problems that have been solved in the past, and can use that knowledge to figure out which of those proven solutions should be applied to the present problem. Defining a problem's requirements is therefore really about gathering the information needed to choose, and customize, a solution (or set of solutions).

All of this is good stuff, and I learned quite a bit from the first few chapters of this book -- especially Chapter 5, which describes five common kinds of problems, and the sorts of questions that a requirements document should answer for each." -- Gregory V. Wilson for Dr. Dobb's Journal, August, 1999

Kovitz has written a fresh, lively, honest, funny, and provocative book on a serious engineering topic.... -- Ian Alexander's Reviews of Books on Requirements Engineering

The book is well organized, literate, and readable...a delightful discovery. -- ACM Computing Reviews