Given/When/Then-ready sprint planning (expo:QA'16)

Given/When/Then-ready
sprint planning
Gáspár Nagy
coach • trainer • bdd addict • creator of specflow
@gasparnagy • gaspar@specsolutions.eu

behavior driven development
desarrollo impulsado por el
comportamiento
development driven by behavior

[HttpPost]
public ActionResult Add(int bookId)
{
BookShopEntities db = new BookShopEntities();
var shoppingCart = GetShoppingCart();
var existingLine = shoppingCart.Lines.SingleOrDefault(l =>
l.Book.Id == bookId);
if (existingLine != null)
{
existingLine.Quantity++;
}
else
{
var book = db.Books.First(b => b.Id == bookId);
OrderLine newOrderLine = new OrderLine();
newOrderLine.Book = book;
newOrderLine.Quantity = 1;
shoppingCart.AddLineItem(newOrderLine);
}
ViewData.Model = shoppingCart;
return RedirectToAction("Index");
}
An Oversimplified BDD Process
implement
feedback

An Oversimplified BDD Process
Scenario: Books can be added to the shopping basket
Given the following books
| Author | Title |
| Martin Fowler | Analysis Patterns |
| Gojko Adzic | Bridging the Communication Gap |
And my shopping basket is empty
When I add the book “Analysis Patterns” to my shopping basket
Then my shopping basket should contain 1 copy of “Analysis Patterns”

The Feature File
| Author | Title |

The Feature File
Escenario: Los libros se pueden añadir a la cesta de la compra
Dadas los siguientes libros
| Author | Title |
Y mi cesta está vacía
Cuando agrego el libro "Analysis Patterns" a mi cesta
Entonces mi cesta debe contener 1 copia de “Analysis Patterns”
Who writes the
scenarios?
How do you set
the title of the
scenario?
Can I have multiple
when/then steps?

If you have these questions you are probably on
the wrong track…

Demo: Planning the Pizza
Selection Story

Let’s write a Gherkin from the result
Scenario: ...
Given ...
When ...
Then ...

De-briefing
• PO was unprepared
• We discussed the topics in a foreign
language
• The domain was known, but not very exact
• Quality of notes?
• How easy it to write the first scenario?
• Quality of scenario?

Participate in the facilitated
discussion as PO!

Review
• What was different from the first time?
• Did we cover more or less functionality than
the last time?
• What do you think the different coloured
cards / stickies are supposed to represent?
• How did capturing each of those help to keep
the discussions on track?
• Do you think the story is ready to implement
now? Why?

Collaborate on requirements!
Well guided planning meeting can improve
the “BDD-efficiency” quite much

Example Mapping
http://bit.ly/examplemapping (Matt Wynne)

#0 – Choose a facilitator
• Someone needs to facilitate the discussion –
not the PO
• The facilitation can be rotated so that
everyone gets practice
• The facilitator can guide the discussion with
– Asking questions
– Moderating (stopping?) discussions
• Everyone can ask of course…

#1 – Pick a guide line
• Choose a theme that you can use to order
the questions
• The “sequence of actions” is usually good
– ie. “What you do first?”
• If you use story mapping for planning the
stories, this comes quite naturally

#2 – Keep collecting rules
(acceptance criteria) and examples
• Once you hear an important
rule/behavior/check, note it down as a rule
and an illustrating example
• Don’t forget that an example is not
necessarily text, but formulas, wireframes or
anything that describes the required behavior
• Examples can help
– understanding the topic
– discover misunderstandings
– keep the requirements real

#3 – Make notes visible to
everyone
• Write them on index cards or stickies
• Using (and sharing on projector) a notepad,
OneNote or SpecLog is also very good
– Pro: stored already in a searchable form, usually
better visible (zoom), easy to go back to earlier notes
– Con: harder to get a full overview
• Stop the discussion while the rule/example is
captured
• The team should have an agreement on the
captured result
– Was this really what we were discussing about?

#4 – Collect questions
• If something cannot be answered or needs
further research/investigation – capture it
as a questions
• Captured questions can help
– to avoid re-discussing the same topic again
and again
– to have a clear list of topics we need to
investigate

#5 – Split the story if necessary
• The map can help you to feel if the topics
we have discussed are too much

+1 – Formulate the scenarios in
Gherkin
• Not necessarily in the planning meeting
• Just before you start implementing the story
works usually
• Don’t do it alone
• Try to find broader agreement especially for
the first scenarios in a certain topic
• At this point, you are not discussing the
behavior, but finalizing the ubiquitous
language

One page summary
#0 – Choose a facilitator
#1 – Pick a guide line
#2 – Keep collecting rules (acceptance criteria)
and examples
#3 – Make notes visible to everyone
#4 – Collect questions
#5 – Split story if necessary
http://bit.ly/examplemapping
(Matt Wynne)

What about my answers?
| Author | Title |
Who writes the
scenarios? How do you set
the title of the
scenario?
Can I have multiple
when/then steps?

The answers
• Who writes the scenarios?
– It does not matter, because we are all on the same page
regarding the behavior. But it makes sense if a developer
is typing it in with a tester or PO sitting next to him/her.
• How do you set the title of the scenario?
– You never set it, you start from the acceptance criterion
that will be the title.
• Can I have multiple when/then steps?
– The scenario is the formalization of an AC – a simple
check. For that you usually need only one when step and
only one or two then steps.

Thank you!
Gáspár Nagy
@gasparnagy
gaspar@specsolutions.eu
http://specsolutions.eu
More information on BDD at
http://bddaddict.com

Given/When/Then-ready sprint planning (expo:QA'16)

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Given/When/Then-ready sprint planning (expo:QA'16)