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Software Engineering vocabulary · Agile and Team Workflow

Use case

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

nounCore term

In software engineering, use case means: A specific situation in which someone uses a product to reach a goal, described step by step or as a short scenario.

In Turkish: kullanım senaryosu, kullanım durumu, kullanım alanı

How it is used

PMs and sales teams talk about the main use cases of a product and new use cases that customers discover. In requirements work, a use case can also be a formal document listing the actor, the steps and the outcome.

Example sentences

  1. Our main use case is small teams planning shifts, not hospitals.

  2. A customer showed us a use case we had never thought of: tracking rental equipment.

Common collocations

  • main use case
  • use case for
  • cover a use case
  • support a use case
  • user storyA short description of a feature from the user's point of view, often written as 'As a [type of user], I want [goal] so that [reason]'.
  • personaA fictional but realistic profile of a typical user, built from research, with a name, goals, needs and frustrations, that helps a team design for real people.
  • requirementSomething the software must do, or a condition it must meet, as agreed with users, clients or the product team.
  • edge caseAn unusual situation at the limits of what a program expects, such as an empty list, a very long name or a date like 29 February.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Agile and Team Workflow

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