BDD Collaboration

BDD Collaboration

Master the collaborative aspects of Behavior-Driven Development to bridge communication between technical and business teams.

Three Amigos Sessions

The Three Amigos brings together three perspectives:

• Business/​Product: Defines the desired behavior
• Development: Understands implementation implications
• Testing/​QA: Identifies edge cases and risks

Session Structure:
1. Product Owner presents the user story
2. Developer asks clarifying questions
3. Tester identifies potential edge cases
4. Team writes scenarios together
5. Everyone agrees on acceptance criteria

Example Mapping

Example Mapping is a structured conversation technique:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ STORY: As a customer, I want to...      │ (Yellow card)
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RULE: Orders over $50 get free shipping │ (Blue card)
│   ├── Example: $60 order = free         │ (Green card)
│   ├── Example: $49 order = $5 shipping  │ (Green card)
│   └── Question: What about $50 exactly? │ (Red card)
├─────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RULE: Express shipping always costs $15 │ (Blue card)
│   ├── Example: $100 order express = $15 │ (Green card)
│   └── Example: $30 order express = $15  │ (Green card)
└─────────────────────────────────────────┘

Discovery Workshop Format

1. INTRODUCE (5 min)
   - Present the feature or story
   - Share any existing context

2. EXPLORE (20 min)
   - "What are the rules?"
   - "Can you give me an example?"
   - "What could go wrong?"

3. DOCUMENT (15 min)
   - Write scenarios together
   - Capture questions for later

4. REVIEW (10 min)
   - Read scenarios aloud
   - Confirm shared understanding

Ubiquitous Language

Build a shared vocabulary:

# Domain terms defined clearly
Feature: Subscription Management

  # Define terms in feature description
  A "subscriber" is a customer with an active subscription.
  A "churned subscriber" has cancelled within the last 30 days.
  "Winback" is re-activating a churned subscriber.

  Scenario: Winback offer for churned subscriber
    Given a churned subscriber from 15 days ago
    When they visit the pricing page
    Then they should see the winback offer

Living Documentation

Feature: Payment Processing

  # Link to business documentation
  @jira:PAY-123
  @confluence:payment-rules

  # Version tracking
  @since:v2.1

  Scenario: Process credit card payment
    # This scenario documents the current behavior
    # Last verified: 2024-01-15

When to Use This Skill

Use bdd-collaboration when you need to:

• Align team understanding of requirements
• Reduce miscommunication between roles
• Create shared ownership of quality
• Build domain knowledge across team
• Prevent defects through early discussion

Best Practices

• Schedule regular Three Amigos sessions
• Use Example Mapping for complex stories
• Create and maintain a domain glossary
• Keep scenarios as living documentation
• Involve stakeholders in scenario reviews
• Time-box discovery sessions

Common Pitfalls

• Skipping collaboration and writing scenarios alone
• Not including all three perspectives
• Using technical jargon with business stakeholders
• Letting scenarios become outdated
• Over-documenting simple features
• Not following up on questions raised