Behavior-Driven Development with Cucumber: Better Collaboration for Better Software

Master BDD to deliver higher-value software more quickly To develop high-value products quickly, software development teams need better ways to collaborate. Agile methods like Scrum and Kanban are helpful, but they’re not enough. Teams need better ways to work inside each sprint or work item. Behavior-driven development (BDD) adds just enough structure for product experts, testers, and developers to collaborate more effectively. Drawing on extensive experience helping teams adopt BDD, Richard Lawrence and Paul Rayner show how to explore changes in system behavior with examples through conversations, how to capture your examples in expressive language, and how to flow the results into effective automated testing with Cucumber. Where most BDD resources focus on test automation, this guide goes deep into how BDD changes team collaboration and what that collaboration looks like day to day. Concrete examples and practical advice will prepare you to succeed with BDD, whatever your context or role. ·         Learn how to collaborate better by using concrete examples of system behavior ·         Identify your project’s meaningful increment of value so you’re always working on something important ·         Begin experimenting with BDD slowly and at low risk ·         Move smoothly from informal examples to automated tests in Cucumber ·         Use BDD to deliver more frequently with greater visibility ·         Make Cucumber scenarios more expressive to ensure you’re building the right thing ·         Grow a Cucumber suite that acts as high-value living documentation ·         Sustainably work with complex scenario data ·         Get beyond the “mini-waterfalls” that often arise on Scrum teams 

Table of Contents:
 Chapter 1: Focusing on Value When Scrum Isn’t Enough Finding a High-Value Feature to Start With Before You Start with Cucumber     Finding the First MMF     Slicing an MMF into User Stories Summary Reference Chapter 2: Exploring with Examples BDD Is a Cooperative Game     BDD Is a Whole Team Thing     Allow Time and Space to Learn     Flesh Out the Happy Path First     Use Real Examples     Example Mapping Gives the Discussion Structure     Optimizing for Discovery Addressing Some Concerns     Treat Resistance as a Resource Playing the BDD Game     Opening     Exploring     Closing Summary References Chapter 3: Formalizing Examples into Scenarios Moving from Examples to Scenarios     Feature Files as Collaboration Points     BDD Is Iterative, Not Linear     Finding the Meaningful Variations     Gherkin: A Language for Expressive Scenarios Summary Resources Chapter 4: Automating Examples The Test Automation Stack Adjusting to Working Test-First Annotating Element Names in Mockups How Does User Experience Design Fit In to This? Did They Really Just Hard Code Those Results? Anatomy of a Step Definition Simple Cucumber Expressions Regular Expressions     Anchors     Wildcards and Quantifiers     Capturing and Not Capturing     Just Enough Custom Cucumber Expressions Parameter Types Beyond Ruby Slow Is Normal (at First) Choose Cucumber Based on Audience, Not Scope Summary Chapter 5: Frequent Delivery and Visibility How BDD Changes the Tester’s Role Exploratory Testing BDD and Automated Builds Faster Stakeholder Feedback How Getting to Done More Often Changes All Sorts of Things Frequent Visibility and Legacy Systems Documentation: Integrated and Living Avoiding Mini-Waterfalls and Making the Change Stick Summary References Chapter 6: Making Scenarios More Expressive Feedback About Scenarios How to Make Your Scenarios More Expressive     Finding the Right Level of Abstraction     Including the Appropriate Details     Expressive Language in the Steps     Refactoring Scenarios     Good Scenario Titles Summary References Chapter 7: Growing Living Documentation What Is Living Documentation and Why Is It Better? Cucumber Features and Other Documentation Avoid Gherkin in User Story Descriptions The Unexpected Relationship Between Cucumber Features and User Stories     Stable Scenarios Growing and Splitting Features     Split When Backgrounds Diverge     Split When a New Domain Concept Emerges Secondary Organization Using Tags Structure Is Emergent Summary Chapter 8: Succeeding with Scenario Data Characteristics of Good Scenarios     Independent     Repeatable     Researchable     Realistic     Robust     Maintainable     Fast Sharing Data     When to Share Data     Raising the Level of Abstraction with Data Personas Data Cleanup Summary Reference Chapter 9: Conclusion     9780321772633   TOC   4/22/2019