UserGoalsAndUseCases

User Goals and Use Cases

The user goals and use cases are organized by user (aka actor). The information for actors provides actor desciptions and goals. See the goals to find the use cases that implement the goals.

Process Note

When thinking about the requirements and documentation for Zope 3, we follow a user-centric goal-driven use-case approach. We organize the requirements by users.

The users have goals, which are things the users must accomplish somehow. These goals are expressed without reference to a particulat software system.

The use cases and documentation describe how the users should use the system (Zope 3) to accomplish their goals. Use cases and documentation should:

• be written to the user, taking into account their point of view, skills, and so on, and
• implement (satisfy) the users goals.

It should be possible to trace from user goals to use cases (documentation) that implement them and from use cases (documentation) to the goals that motivate them.

Designs (when we bother ;) should be traceable to use cases (documentation).

Perhaps their should be separate user guides for separate users and user guides should be organized by user goals.

We sometimes work out use cases by first writing ScienceFictionDocumentation.

Users:

• ZopeEvaluator
• ContentManager
• SiteScripter
• SiteDesigner
• SiteDeveloper
• ComponentDeveloper
• InformationArchitect
• SiteManager
• WorkflowDesigner
• System Administrator

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paul (Sep 23, 2001 1:00 pm; Comment #1)

I'm not too sure I can find much on "customizing components". It's referred to in one of the use cases, but I think it should be a use case itself. Unless customizing presentation covers the essentials.

Jim

Yup. We need more on this, including more thought.

Also, one use case implies that we're punting on packages and installation of on-disk components. Is this true? If so, we should still document how on-disk components are distributed.

Jim

Agreed.