A use case scenario is a structured description of how a particular user (an actor) interacts with a system to accomplish a specific goal. Instead of listing features in the abstract, a use case walks through the sequence of steps the user takes, what the system does in response, what must be true before the interaction starts, and what counts as success. In human-computer interaction work, this makes use cases a bridge between the people you are designing for and the interface you will eventually build.
In this course, use cases matter because they are where user research turns into something designers and developers can act on. Before you sketch a screen or run a usability test, you need a clear statement of who the user is, what they are trying to do, and under what conditions. Use cases also feed directly into requirements gathering: each step and alternate flow in a scenario tends to reveal a functional requirement, and the conditions around it often reveal non-functional ones such as speed, accessibility, or error tolerance.
As you watch the videos below, pay attention to four things: the vocabulary (actor, goal, precondition, postcondition, main flow, alternate and exception flows), how a written use case description differs from a use case diagram, how use cases connect to requirements documentation, and how use cases compare with user stories in agile practice. Try to notice that these are complementary tools rather than competitors — a short user story captures intent, while a full use case captures detail.
This Geekific video, framed around object-oriented design, explains what use cases and user stories each are and then compares them side by side. Based on its title and description, it should cover the purpose and structure of a use case, the typical format of a user story, and when each is the more appropriate tool. Expect concise definitions with examples rather than a long walkthrough of a single project.
It maps directly onto the "Use Cases vs. User Stories" subtopic, which students often find confusing, and Geekific is a well-regarded channel for compact software design explanations that keep the terminology precise.
This tutorial from The Business Analysis Doctor walks through an actual use case description (also called a use case specification), showing how the document is structured and filled in. The description indicates it treats the use case as a way to verify that functional requirements cover the needed behavior, so expect discussion of actors, preconditions, main and alternate flows, and best practices for writing them clearly.
At eighteen minutes it is the most detailed look at the "Key Components of a Use Case" and "Role of Use Cases in Requirements Gathering" subtopics, and the producer is a practicing business analyst channel aligned with IIBA professional standards, so the conventions shown reflect real industry documentation.
Lucid Software's tutorial introduces UML use case diagrams from the ground up, covering the notation for actors, use cases, system boundaries, and relationships such as include and extend. It is pitched at both beginners and intermediate learners, so it should move from basic symbols to how diagrams are assembled for a full system.
It supplies the visual, system-level counterpart to the written scenario, helping students see how individual use cases fit together in scope; Lucid is the maker of a widely used diagramming tool and the video's very large view count reflects its clarity as a standard reference.
Together these videos build the foundation MO1 requires: the Geekific and Business Analysis Doctor videos supply the vocabulary and structure students need to compose use case scenarios that state a real user goal and its interaction context, while the Lucid tutorial gives them a way to show how those scenarios relate across a system. The use case description tutorial also supports MO3, since walking through main flows, alternate flows, preconditions, and postconditions is exactly where functional behaviors and surrounding quality constraints become visible and can be sorted into functional versus non-functional specifications. MO2 is addressed indirectly here — these videos show what the output of requirements gathering looks like, which gives purpose to the interview, survey, and observation techniques covered elsewhere in the module.
These videos were chosen from YouTube on October 3, 2026. Each has captions; the player turns them on. Videos on YouTube can be changed or removed — if one no longer plays, tell your instructor. If a player does not appear, use its Watch on YouTube link.