Use Cases

[robert_weir@us.ibm.com]

Sander Marechal <sander.marechal@tribal-im.com>
wrote on 06/21/2008 07:31:37 AM:

> robert_weir@us.ibm.com wrote:
> > You can certainly put something like this in the deliverables
> > section: "The TC will review current practices pertaining
to the
> > development of profiles for interoperability and produce a report
> > that includes a recommendation of best practices for the OIIC
TC, as
> > well as a prioritized list of profiles to create."
> 
> Where's the reference to the use-cases we would write? Or can we only
> point to the use-cases outside the charter?
> 

I think we could include use cases if we wanted to.
 For example, in deliverables we could say "A document XXX that
specifies YYY that considers/satisfies/is restricted to (pick one) the
following use cases...".

Personally, I find that use cases are easier to create
in the TC, once formed.  But feel free to propose some uses cases.
 No good idea should be wasted here.

> The problem with the term "current practices" to me is that
there's 
> really no existing standard on creating interoperability profiles
or 
> subset profiles (CDRF isn't such a standard. I agree with that now).
> 

There may be no formal standard on writing profiles,
but there is certainly a lot of practice in writing profiles, since they
exist in ISO, the W3C, OASIS.  I think we want to look at such existing
practices and see what would apply as best practices for our particular
problem. 

> What I'm gunning for os a bit like "extreme programming"
is in software 
> development. Create something from a set of use-cases instead of from
a 
> set of formal requirements, giving the programmer much more freedom
to 
> figure out how the application should work in order to do what it
should do.
> 

I don't disagree on the use and applicability of use
cases.  My concern is in having it in the charter.  I'd prefer
to have use cases as a TC deliverable.

That is what we did with the ODF 1.2 metadata features,
for example.  We created a uses cases document and then circulated
it for public comment, and in particular sought out feedback from the W3C's
semantic web activity.  That is the advantage of doing use cases as
a TC deliverable -- you can send it out for wider comment and then formally
approve it.

-Rob