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Use Cases and Features (or Stories)

Many approaches use features of a system桬xtreme Programming calls them user stories梩o help describe requirements. A common question is how features and use cases interrelate.

Features are a good way of chunking up a system for planning an iterative project, whereby each iteration delivers a number of features. Use cases provide a narrative of how the actors use the system. Hence, although both techniques describe requirements, their purposes are different.

Although you can go directly to describing features, many people find it helpful to develop use cases first and then generate a list of features. A feature may be a whole use case, a scenario in a use case, a step in a use case, or some variant behavior, such as adding yet another depreciation method for your asset valuations, that doesn't show up in a use case narrative. Usually, features end up being more fine grained than use cases.

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