Use Cases vs Functional Specifications

Developers should learn and use use cases during the requirements gathering and design phases of a project to ensure software meets user expectations and business objectives meets developers should learn and use functional specifications to clarify project requirements, reduce ambiguity, and prevent scope creep during development. Here's our take.

Use Cases

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use use cases during the requirements gathering and design phases of a project to ensure software meets user expectations and business objectives

Pros

• They are particularly valuable in agile and iterative development processes, such as Scrum or Unified Process, for defining user stories, acceptance criteria, and test cases
• Related to: requirements-analysis, user-stories

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Functional Specifications

Developers should learn and use functional specifications to clarify project requirements, reduce ambiguity, and prevent scope creep during development

Pros

• They are essential in waterfall methodologies and formal project management contexts, such as government contracts or large enterprise systems, where clear documentation is required for compliance and communication
• Related to: requirements-analysis, software-documentation

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Use Cases is a concept while Functional Specifications is a methodology. We picked Use Cases based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Use Cases wins

Based on overall popularity. Use Cases is more widely used, but Functional Specifications excels in its own space.