Telling Stories focuses on how to write a software requirements document using the most ancient and human process for sharing information, the narrative. Telling Stories will explain that a requirement document must capture the requirements of all stakeholders and communicate them to the designers and builders of the system. But the book will also describe how the document must sell the project to senior management and other important decision makers. The book addresses how to meet these two different needs with a single document, and why it should be a single document. It explains the power of narrative for communicating complex information and maps the common elements of a story to the requirements process.

Beginning with the planning stages, the book summarizes common methods of gathering requirements (referring to other books as needed): identifying stakeholders and important elements of the system, stakeholder goals, non-functional requirements, important processes, vital data, key metrics, and so on. With this starting point established, the book offers a basic outline that incorporates these elements.

After explaining the planning stage, the book describes ways of using language and pictures to tell a compelling story, including structured, precise language and diagrams that define specific outcomes. There will be very detailed recommendations for how to make data flow diagrams more clear and readable, as well as guidelines for closely integrating text process descriptions.

With the tools and concepts described, Telling Stories details the assembly of the content into current state and future state process flows. It will show exactly how to explain processes, and how to extract requirements. It also explains how to incorporate non-functional requirements.

With the process descriptions complete, the book describes how to assemble all the pieces and finish the document, how to write the Executive Summary, and how to add any other parts required by the project. Finally, it discusses harvesting content for other documents like functional specifications and test plans, and maintaining requirements during and after development.