BDD: from soup to nuts - The Future of Work Scotland 2021

@sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
BDD
from soup to nuts
Seb Rose
Co-author of BDD Books series

Soup

Behaviour Driven Development
“An approach that enhances the
communication between
stakeholders and project team
members by expressing product
needs as concrete examples.”
Agile Extension to IIBA BABOK ®

“BDD helps close the gap between
business people and technical people by:
• building a shared understanding
• working in rapid, small iterations
• automatically checking the
documentation is correct”
https:/
/cucumber.io/docs/bdd/

The three practices of BDD
| Examples of system behaviour are documented
using business terminology
| The documentation is automated, creating living
documentation that verifies the system’s behaviour
| Create a shared understanding of the requirements
through collaboration, typically achieved through a
structured conversation centered on rules and
examples
https://cucumber.io/docs/bdd/
Proprietary & Confidential
BDD approach

Entrée

Let’s talk about
requirements

Let’s talk about
requirements
Have
you thought
about …
Isn’t
there something
else that needs to
happen?
Is that
always
What would
happen if … ?

Let’s talk about
requirements
Give me an
example.
Have
you thought
about …
Isn’t
there something
else that needs to
happen?
Is that
always
What would
happen if … ?

https://cucumber.io/blog/2015/12/08/example-
mapping-introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwvrGfWmG_U
Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Question
Example
Rule Question
Question
Example
Example
Introducing Example Mapping
Example map

Rule
Synonyms

Rule
Requirement
Synonyms

Rule
Requirement
Acceptance
criterion
Synonyms

Members pay a reservation
charge of £1
A sample rule

Reserving a book at the library
At the library, it’s free to take out books that are on the shelves,
but there is a charge of £1.00 if you want to reserve an item
that’s currently out on loan.

Apply reservation charges to
library members
charge of £1

library members
charge of £1
Andrew reserves a book
He is charged £1

library members
charge of £1
He is charged £1
Andrew reserves two books
He is charged £1

library members
charge of £1
He is charged £1
He is charged £1
£1 £2

library members
charge of £1
He is charged £1
He is charged £1
£1 £2
per item

library members
charge of £1
He is charged £1
He is charged £1
£1 £2
per item
Is there a limit to
the number of
books that can be
reserved?

Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Question
Example
Example
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Question
Example
Example Example
Example
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Question
Example
Example
Rule
Example
Example
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Question
Example
Example
Rule
Question
Question
Question
Question
Example
Example
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Rule
Rule
Rule
Rule
Rule
Rule
Example
Example
Visual feedback

Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Example
Rule
Example
Example
Visual feedback

Parmesan

Anatomy of
an example

Context
Anatomy of
an example

Context
Action
Anatomy of
an example

Context
Action
Outcome
Anatomy of
an example

He is charged £1
Context
Action
Outcome
Anatomy of
an example

He is charged £1
Context
Action
Outcome
Andrew reserves one book
Anatomy of
an example

He is charged £1
Context
Action
Outcome
Andrew is charged £1.00
Anatomy of
an example

Context
Action
Outcome
Library members pay a
reservation charge of £1 per item
Anatomy of
an example

Andrew is a library member
Context
Action
Outcome
Library members pay a
reservation charge of £1 per item
Anatomy of
an example

Capturing an example - prose

He is charged £1
Capturing an example - prose

@sebrose
Capturing an example - columns
Reserves a
book
Library
member
Charged £1

@sebrose
- Andrew is a library member
* Andrew reserves a book
=> He is charged £1
Capturing an example - symbols

@sebrose
Capturing an example - sketch

Salad

Remote working - spreadsheet

Remote working - MindMup

Remote working - Miro

Remote working - CucumberStudio

Main

Formulation

Given that Andrew has adult membership  
 
- Andrew is an adult member
Formulation

 
Formulation
When he reserves 1 book

 
Formulation
=> The charge is £1
When he reserves 1 book 
Then he should be charged £1

Good scenarios should be BRIEF:
• Business readable
• Real data
• Intention revealing
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
https://cucumber.io/blog/bdd/keep-your-scenarios-brief-(1)/

• Real data
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
- terminology drawn from business domain

• Real data
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
- use concrete data for clarity

• Real data
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
- reveal intent, don’t describe mechanics

• Real data
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
- remove incidental details

• Real data
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
- each scenario illustrates a single rule

• Real data
• Essential
• Focused
• BRIEF
- each scenario illustrates a single rule
- keep scenarios short (less than 6 steps)

Cheese

Thought experiment
Which would you prefer:
• unreliable documentation, or
• non-existent documentation?

Thought experiment
Which would you prefer:
• unreliable documentation, or
• non-existent documentation?
Which have you got?

Automation

Automation
Scenario: Andrew reserves a book
Scenario: Andrew reserves a children’s book
When he reserves 1 children’s book 

Automation

Automation
Then he should be charged £1 
Expected ‘1.00’, but received ‘0.00’

Living documentation
Living documentation automatically tells you when it
diverges from the system it documents.
Divergence has several causes:

• Specified functionality is still to be implemented

• Documentation is incorrect/out-of-date

• Documentation is incorrect/out-of-date
• Defect has been introduced into the system

Dessert

ROI of BDD - not just the Boehm ‘curve’
https://cucumber.io/blog/bdd/what-s-the-roi-of-bdd/

ROI of Discovery
https://code.joejag.com/2018/lego-workstream-visualisation.html
Planned Failure Ad-hoc Meetings
Apr 23% 30% 40% 2%

Nov 56% 4% 24% 10%
We had more than doubled the time spent on planned work by banishing
failure demand.
[An] interesting thing to note was that we spent ﬁve times more time in
meetings. Spending an hour getting feedback was saving a day
developing the wrong feature.

ROI of Formulation
Problem
domain
SoluJon
domain
Ubiquitous
language
“A language structured around the domain model and used by all team
members to connect all the activities of the team with the software.”
Eric Evans, Domain-Driven Design
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Domain-Driven-Design-Tackling-Complexity-Software/dp/0321125215

ROI of Automation

ROI of Automation
• Automated tests that guide development.

ROI of Automation
• Reliable documentation that automatically informs the
team when it is incorrect or out-of-date.

ROI of Automation
• Reliable documentation that automatically informs the
team when it is incorrect or out-of-date.
• A business-focused safety net for the entire lifetime of
the system.

Nuts

BDD is
collaborative

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding
Documentation
must be business
readable

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding
Automation
creates living
documentation
Documentation
must be business
readable

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding
Automation
creates living
documentation
BDD is NOT
technical
Documentation
must be business
readable

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding
Collaborative
discovery is
NOT optional
Automation
creates living
documentation
BDD is NOT
technical
Documentation
must be business
readable

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding
Collaborative
discovery is
NOT optional
Automation
creates living
documentation
BDD is NOT
technical
Documentation
must be business
readable
… reviewed
(NOT written)
by business

BDD is
collaborative
Concrete examples
build a shared
understanding
Collaborative
discovery is
NOT optional
Automation
creates living
documentation
Test
automation is
not the goal
BDD is NOT
technical
Documentation
must be business
readable
… reviewed
(NOT written)
by business

If you liked that, you’ll love these …
Cucumber School – https:/
/school.cucumber.io
BDD books - http:/
/bddbooks.com

QUESTIONS?
Seb Rose
Co-author of BDD Books series

BDD: from soup to nuts - The Future of Work Scotland 2021

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BDD: from soup to nuts - The Future of Work Scotland 2021