When to Use Use Cases

I can't imagine a situation now in which I would not use use cases. They are an essential tool in requirements capture and in planning and controlling an iterative project. Capturing use cases is one of the primary tasks of the elaboration phase.

Most of your use cases will be generated during that phase of the project, but you will uncover more as you proceed. Keep an eye out for them at all times. Every use case is a potential requirement, and until you have captured a requirement, you cannot plan to deal with it.

Some people list and discuss the use cases first, then do some modeling. I've also found that conceptual modeling with users helps uncover use cases. So I tend to do use cases and conceptual modeling at the same ...

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