BDD Anti-patterns

bit.ly/bdd-antipatterns-draw @wakaleo

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BDD Anti-patterns

Stories from the trenches about how not to do BDD

John Ferguson Smart“I help teams of smart people

learn to work together more efficiently, to deliver better software faster”

wakaleo [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


To deliver software that matters

And a common language to build a shared understanding

Using examples at multiple levels

Collaborate to discover requirements and identify uncertainty

The essence of BDD






The essence of BDD






The essence of BDD






The essence of BDD






The essence of BDD


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Too holey.

Too feathery.

Too scratchy.

Too straight.Too

crooked.

Too pointed…

Too patchy.


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Just right!


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Getting the balance “just right”


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Who and When


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Who and When

What


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Who and When

What

How


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Who and When

What

How


“Out to lunch”Antipattern #1


“The case of the disengaged stakeholder”

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FeedbackInfrequent Often



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“The Cucumber Salad”Antipattern #2

“The Cucumber Salad”Feature: Display customer details As an user I want to view the customer's personal profile In order to access the personal information on the customer

Scenario: Customer Profile field 'Gender' Given I am logged into the application And I have displayed the customer When I view the customer profile on the summary screen Then I should see the Gender field (field type: Dropdown - read only information)Scenario: Customer Profile ‘DOB/Age' field Given I am logged into the application And I have displayed the customer When I view the Personal Profile on the Summary screen Then I should see the DOB/Age field (DOB field type: Date, format: dd mmm yyyy - read only) (Age field type:read only - numeric) under Personal Profile And it should be blank if no value returnedScenario: Customer Profile 'Marital Status' fieldScenario: Customer Profile 'Dependents' field

“In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”

- Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Planning and Requirements discovery - it’s a team sport

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Feature Mapping

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Feature Mapping

Story Mapping

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Feature Mapping

Story Mapping

Example Mapping

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Feature Mapping

Story Mapping

Example Mapping

Pairing…


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“BDD Test Scripts”Antipattern #3


“BDD test scripts”

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“Cucumber test scripts”

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Who and When

What

How


“Aimless requirements”Antipattern #4

“Aimless requirements”Feature: Display customer details As a user I want to view the customer's profile details So that I can see the personal information on the customer



Feature: Locate a customerIn order to propose more relevant services to my customersAs a financial adviserI want to access relevant customer's profile details



In order to propose more relevant services to my customers

What is the real business goal?


Feature: Locate a customerIn order to propose more relevant services to my customersAs a financial adviserI want to access relevant customer's profile detailsAs a financial adviser


What is the context of the user who needs this feature?








What capability will help me achieve this?

I want to access relevant customer's profile details



“No shit Sherlock”Antipattern #5


“Boring scenarios”

Scenario Outline: User tries to log on to application with invalid credentials Given I am a registered user When I login as <username> with password <password> Then I should not be allowed to logon And I should see the error message <error-message> Examples: | username | password | message | | scott | | Please enter a password | | | tiger | Please enter a username | | scott | wrong | Invalid username or password |




UX concerns




UX concerns

OK, but what else?


“Scenario overload”Antipattern #6


“Scenario overload”

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Lots of UI steps obscure the intent



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Lots of UI steps obscure the intent

And I update the billing code from ‘misc’ to ‘sadfsc’

Capture the business intent of the action



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Scenario: The account earns 4% interest when the balance is over $10000 Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 12000 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 40Scenario: The account earns 2% interest when the balance is less than $10000 Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 9000 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 15Scenario: The account earns 4% interest when the balance is over $10000 and no more than $300 has been withdrawn Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 12000 And a previous end-of-month balance of $12300 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 40Scenario: The account earns 2% interest when the balance is over $10000 and more than $300 has been withdrawn Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 12000 And a previous end-of-month balance of $12400 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 15



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Scenario: The account earns 4% interest when the balance is over $10000 Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 12000 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 40Scenario: The account earns 2% interest when the balance is less than $10000 Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 9000 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 15Scenario: The account earns 4% interest when the balance is over $10000 and no more than $300 has been withdrawn Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 12000 And a previous end-of-month balance of $12300 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 40Scenario: The account earns 2% interest when the balance is over $10000 and more than $300 has been withdrawn Given a bonus saver account with a end-of-month balance of 12000 And a previous end-of-month balance of $12400 When interest is calculated Then the monthly interest earned should be 15

Scattered data hides the information



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Scenario Outline: Bonus saver account Given a bonus saver account with an end-of-month balance of <balance> And a previous end-of-month balance of <previous> When the interest is calculated Then the applicable interest rate should be <rate> And <interest-earned> should be deposited into the account

Examples: balance | previous | rate| earned| rule 10000 | 10000 | 4 | 33.33 | 9000 | 9000 | 2 | 15.00 | Under 10000 earns 2% 10000 | 10300 | 4 | 33.33 | Over 10000 earns 4% 9000 | 9301 | 1 | 7.5 | Under $10000 with over 300 withdrawn earns 1% 10000 | 10301 | 2 | 16.67 | Over $10000 with over $300 withdraw earns 2%



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Scenario Outline: Bonus saver account Given a bonus saver account with an end-of-month balance of <balance> And a previous end-of-month balance of <previous> When the interest is calculated Then the applicable interest rate should be <rate> And <interest-earned> should be deposited into the account

Examples: balance | previous | rate| earned| rule 10000 | 10000 | 4 | 33.33 | 9000 | 9000 | 2 | 15.00 | Under 10000 earns 2% 10000 | 10300 | 4 | 33.33 | Over 10000 earns 4% 9000 | 9301 | 1 | 7.5 | Under $10000 with over 300 withdrawn earns 1% 10000 | 10301 | 2 | 16.67 | Over $10000 with over $300 withdraw earns 2%

Sometimes tables are more expressive



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Scenario Outline: Bonus saver account Given a bonus saver account with an end-of-month balance of <balance> And a previous end-of-month balance of <previous-balance> When the interest is calculated Then the applicable interest rate should be <percentage-interest> And <interest-earned> should be deposited into the account Examples: balance | previous-balance | percentage | earned | 10000 | 10000 | 4 | 33.33 | 10001 | 10000 | 4 | 33.34 | 1000 | 1000 | 2 | 1.67 | 9000 | 9000 | 2 | 15.00 | 10000 | 10300 | 4 | 33.33 | 20000 | 20000 | 4 | 100 | 10000 | 10301 | 2 | 16.67 | 9000 | 9301 | 1 | 7.5 | 20000 | 20301 | 1 | 50 | 100000 | 100301 | 1 | 250 |



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Scenario Outline: Bonus saver account Given a bonus saver account with an end-of-month balance of <balance> And a previous end-of-month balance of <previous-balance> When the interest is calculated Then the applicable interest rate should be <percentage-interest> And <interest-earned> should be deposited into the account Examples: balance | previous-balance | percentage | earned | 10000 | 10000 | 4 | 33.33 | 10001 | 10000 | 4 | 33.34 | 1000 | 1000 | 2 | 1.67 | 9000 | 9000 | 2 | 15.00 | 10000 | 10300 | 4 | 33.33 | 20000 | 20000 | 4 | 100 | 10000 | 10301 | 2 | 16.67 | 9000 | 9301 | 1 | 7.5 | 20000 | 20301 | 1 | 50 | 100000 | 100301 | 1 | 250 |

And sometimes they aren’t


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Scenario: Find a customer by various criteria Given I am logged into the application When I click Search Then I will see search criteria options to search for the customer by customer name, date of birth, and account number


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This is not a business outcome


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Scenario: Find a customer by name Given the following customers exist: | id | first name | last name | | 100 | Sarah-Jane | Smith | | 101 | Sarah | Smith | When I search for a customer using the following search criteria: | name | Sarah-Jane Smith | Then I should display the following customer: | id | first name | last name | | 100 | Sarah-Jane | Smith |



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Well-defined inputs



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Well-defined inputs

Well-defined outcomes



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Who and When

What

How


“Eyes on the screen”Antipattern #7


“Eyes on the screen”

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Scenario: User logs on to application Given I am an authorised user When I enter ‘scott’ into the username field And I enter ‘tiger’ into the password field And I click on ‘login’ Then the application home page should open



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Scenario: User logs on to applicationGiven I am an authorised user When I login with a valid username and password Then I should be provided access to my accounts



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Scenario: User logs on to applicationGiven I am an authorised user When I login with a valid username and password Then I should be provided access to my accountsWhen I login with a valid username and password



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Scenario: User logs on to applicationGiven I am an authorised user When I login with a valid username and password Then I should be provided access to my accountsThen I should be provided access to my accounts



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Scenario: User logs on to applicationGiven I am an authorised user When I login with a valid username and password Then I should be provided access to my accounts


“Top-heavy scenarios”Antipattern #8


“Know your audience”Antipattern #9

“Know your audience”

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Scenario: Propose user branch when user logs in Given I am an authorised staff member When I log on using my valid credentials Then the following branches should be available in the branch drop-down | Branch name | | George Street | | Market Street | | Liverpool Street |

“Know your audience”

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“Incommunicado scenarios”Antipattern #10


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Communicate in business terms


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…at a high level


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…and at a detailed level


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So strive to get your balance “just right”

Questions?

John Ferguson [email protected]

http://www.wakaleo.com

mailto:[email protected]?subject=

http://www.wakaleo.com

BDD Anti-patterns

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