IREB Certified Professional for Requirements Engineering - RE@Agile Primer

This foundation level course addresses the needs of people involved in the topic of Requirements Engineering and Agile. This includes people in roles such as project or IT management, domain experts, system analysts and software developers, Scrum Masters, Product Owners and persons who are part of Agile organizations.

RE@Agile is inspired both by IREB’s view of Agile values as well as by an Agile view of Requirements Engineering values. Its content includes classification and assessment of Requirements Engineering work products and techniques in the context of Agile, of Agile work products and techniques in the context of Requirements Engineering, and of essential process elements in Agile product development. RE@Agile points to the motivation to use Agile in a development process.

An important area is the synergy between Requirements Engineering and Agile: Agile Principles concerning Requirements Engineering and Agile mindset in relation to the core Requirements Engineering values.

The Examination

This course is the basis for the RE@Agile Primer examination. Two different examinations are available:

• Proctored multiple-choice examination with official RE@Agile Primer certificate, similar to the CPRE Foundation Level and Advanced Level multiple-choice examinations, but 40 minutes duration.
• Online multiple-choice self-assessment with confirmation of participation.

MOTIVATION AND MINDSETS

• Motivation to use Agile
• Mindsets and Values in RE and Agile
• Bridging RE and Agile Principles towards RE@Agile
• Benefits, Misconceptions and Pitfalls for the Use of RE@Agile
  • Benefits of RE@AGILE
  • Misconceptions of RE@Agile 
  • Pitfalls of RE@Agile 
• RE@Agile and Conceptual Work

FUNDAMENTALS OF RE@AGILE

• Agile Methods (An overview)
• Scrum (plus good practices) as an Example
• Differences and Commonalities between Requirements Engineers and Product Owners 
• Requirements Engineering as Continuous Process 
• Value-driven development 
• Simplicity as Essential Concept 
• Inspect and Adapt 

WORK PRODUCTS AND TECHNIQUES IN RE@AGILE

• Work Products in RE@Agile
  • Specification Documents vs. Product Backlog 
  • Vision and Goals 
  • Context Model 
  • Requirements
  • Granularity of Requirements
  • Graphical Models and Textual Descriptions 
  • Definition of Terms, Glossaries, and Information Models 
  • Quality Requirements and Constraints
  • Acceptance Criteria and Fit Criteria 
  • Definitions of Ready and Done 
  • Prototype vs. Increments
  • Summary of Work Products 
•  Techniques in RE@AGILE
  • Requirements Elicitation 
  • Requirements Documentation 
  • Requirements Validation and Negotiation 
  • Requirements Management 

ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECTS OF RE@AGILE 

• Influence of Organizations on RE@AGILE 
• Agile development in a non-Agile environment 
  • Interaction with stakeholders outside the IT organization 
  • Product- vs. project organization 
  • The role of management in an Agile context
• Handling of complex problems by scaling 
  • Motivation for scaling
  • Approaches for organizing teams 
  • Approaches for organizing communication 
  • Example Frameworks for scaling RE@Agile 
  • Impacts of Scaling on RE@Agile 
• Balancing upfront and continuous Requirements Engineering in the context of scaling 
  • Initial Requirements Definition 
  • Level of Detail for Backlog Items 
  • Validity of Backlog items 
  • Feedback and Update of the Backlog 
  • Timing of the Development Cycle