Tuesday 22 March 2011

Use Cases and User Stories

I have been reading a number of articles on the comparison between User Cases and User Stories

The conclusions I have came to are as follows:
  • User stories explain the need
  • Use cases explain the behaviours involved
Therefore, they both have their place in the documentation of requirements. User Stories for the Business User and Use Cases for the Developers.

From the Business Users perspective:
  • Without prior knowledge Use Cases are difficult to understand, and can be seen as too 'techie'.
  • User Stories are easy to read, write and understand.
From the Developers perspective:
  • User Stories do not give enough detail on what the system needs to do and how it should behave.
  • Use Cases provide more information about the interactions, prerequisites, outcomes etc.
Some from a Business Analysts perspective, should we use both!!!???