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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

3 months in Tallinn

Today, exactly three months ago, me and my wife moved to Tallinn, Estonia. After five years abroad I am back to Estonia. Tallinn has been somewhat alien city for me before, but I start liking it more now. I have discovered some great sides of it that I did not know about before - along with some other parts that I appreciated in the past and which I love even more now (read: Old Town, seaside, parks).

Somewhat surprisingly, I don't find life in Tallinn anyhow inferior to Oslo. I will perhaps write more about it some time in the future, when I will have lived more long-term here.

What I can say for sure - professionally - it is definitely more interesting to work in Estonia than in Norway (for me personally - can't say for anyone else): more opportunities to do something meaningful, more entrepreneurial attitude of people, better access to bigger responsibilities, more flexibility.

As for my personal passion - bicycle - the opportunities for riding the bike in the city are on roughly the same level in Tallinn as in Oslo (which means: so-so, but not too bad either). Good enough for me ;)

Me in Tallinn on my new bicycle (disclaimer: the picture was taken in September and the weather is not always as good as that day) :)

Monday, November 12, 2012

Review: Writing Effective Use Cases

Writing Effective Use Cases
Writing Effective Use Cases by Alistair Cockburn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The book describes the methodology of putting the software requirements in written through the use cases. Very systematic and logical approach, clear and easy to understand guidelines for writing, quite good examples.

Sometimes, the methodology as a whole feels too dogmatic and sets quite strict limits. I did not find suggestions for schematic icons too useful either. Besides, the methodology feels a little bit outdated in 2012 (the book was written in 2001).

Overall, recommended to software analysts and software team leads - along with some newer books on the software requirements methodology.