Is your team struggling with unproductive meetings and workshops? Are you unsatisfied with how your team comes together to refine requirements and specify solutions? Have you heard about example mapping and want to know more? Specifying and delivering software is a process of discovery. No team has ever delivered a valuable product without discovering many things during the development process, but many teams struggle to get good at discovery. Matt Wynne created a technique called example mapping that has helped thousands of teams around the world use examples to reach a shared understanding of the problems that need solved. As a consequence there are fewer misunderstandings, fewer disagreements, and a smoother flow of value delivery.

1. Example mapping in action
- theory and practice
Seb Rose
Twitter:
@sebrose
Blog:
https://cucumber.io/blog/
E-mail:
seb.rose@smartbear.com

2. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
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 true?
What would
happen if … ?

3. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Example map
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

4. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Synonyms
Rule
Requirement
Acceptance
criterion

5. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
A sample rule
Only library members are
permitted to reserve items

6. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
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 if you want to reserve an item that’s
currently out on loan. Apply reservation charges to
library members
Members pay a reservation
charge of $1
Andrew reserves a book
He is charged $1
Andrew reserves two books
He is charged $1
$1 $2
per item
Is there a limit to
the number of
books that can be
reserved?

7. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Andrew reserves a book
He is charged $1
Andrew is a library member
Context
Action
Outcome
Andrew reserves one book
Andrew is charged $1
Library members pay a
reservation charge of $1 per item
Anatomy of
an example

8. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Andrew reserves a book
He is charged $1
Capturing an example - prose

9. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Capturing an example - columns
Reserves a
book
Library
member
Charged $1
Context Ac
ti
on Outcome

10. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Capturing an example - sketch

11. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
- Andrew is a library member
* Andrew reserves a book
=> He is charged $1
Capturing an example - symbols
Context
Ac
ti
on
Outcome

12. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Remote working - spreadsheet

13. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Remote working - Mindmup

14. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Remote working - CucumberStudio

15. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Remote working - Miro

16. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Visual feedback
Story
Rule Rule
Example
Example
Example
Example
Question
Example
Example
Rule
Question
Question
Question
Question
Rule
Rule
Rule
Rule
Rule
Example
Example
Not ready
Missing rule
Too many
unknowns
Too big
Potentially
ready

17. @sebrose seb.rose@smartbear.com
Keep example mapping
short
(less than 30 minutes)
Not everyone need attend
(6 or fewer)
All unanswered questions
should have owners
Schedule example mapping
daily
(after stand-up)
Business, dev, & test
needed to be quorate
(3 amigos)
PO/BA brings story &
candidate rules
(not examples)
Try to write examples
fi
rst, rather than talk
Give team at least 24
hours notice about story
being discussed
(select relevant expertise)
In my experience …
High bandwidth is priority
(don’t use Given/When/
Then) during Discovery

18. Seb Rose
Twitter:
@sebrose
Blog:
https://cucumber.io/blog/
E-mail:
seb.rose@smartbear.com
http://bddbooks.com