Resolving the Pedagogical Disconnect between User Stories and Use Cases in Systems Analysis and Design Textbooks

Over the past 25 years, user stories and use cases have become increasingly dominant techniques for defining software project requirements. Indeed, although they originated in different camps—user stories from agile development and use cases from software engineering—numerous prominent authors in systems analysis and design (SA&D) have noted important similarities between the two techniques, such that at times one technique can be substituted for the other. However, they also may differ significantly, especially as scope is refined in preparation for software construction. As such, user stories and use cases may play different roles and relate to each other in complex ways. It is therefore problematic that most SA&D textbooks do not explicitly compare and contrast user stories and use cases, let alone explore their complex interrelationships. This paper systematically reviews the state of SA&D textbooks and makes recommendations to resolve this disconnect between user stories and use cases