OK, I want a catchy title... But I also want to tell you about the upcoming Better Software Conference and Agile Development Practices in Las Vegas June 6-11 where I'll be presenting a one-day tutorial on Writing Effective Agile Use Cases. No I am not co-opting Alistair Cockburn's bestselling Writing Effective Use Cases....this title was suggested by the conference organizers. They think it is more catchy than what I proposed: Writing Agile Use Cases.

I hope to share with you effective techniques I've picked up for writing use cases in an agile development environment. While I am not a believer in writing for writing's sake, I happen to find that writing documentation on agile projects to not be intrinsically evil. I've worked with several agile teams to trim down their project documentation, write effectively, and to focus on what matters to them. Not every user story should be part of a use case description. And not every user story needs to be documented. But I believe in the power of the written word when it is effective, streamlined, and to the point. And I find that use cases that focus on usability and defining user tasks to be well-received by agile teams. Especially if they are done in context with usability experimentation, wizard of oz prototyping, and lightweight user interface specification. So come join me in Las Vegas. Or ask me about agile use case writing workshops...where we hone our writing skills and write project-specific use cases.