This document outlines an agenda for a lunch and learn on SpecFlow, a .NET framework for behavior-driven development (BDD). The agenda includes introductions to BDD, SpecFlow, and a demo of creating SpecFlow specifications. Benefits are discussed such as creating shared understanding and reducing assumptions. Challenges like test organization and state sharing are also covered. It concludes that capturing acceptance criteria in Gherkin specs and iterating with the business can lead to detailed requirements and automated regression tests.

1. Agile Continuous Improvement
Lunch & Learn
Adventures in
SpecFlow
BDD in Data Hub Configuration
(a.k.a. SEC)

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Agenda - 1 hour
• [10 min] - Introduction to BDD & Executable
Specifications
• [05 min] - Overview of .NET BDD Tools
• [05 min] - Introducing SpecFlow
• [20 min] - DEMO / Hands on
• [05 min] - Benefits
• [05 min] - Problems & Pro Tips
• [05 min] - BDD vs. Unit Tests
• [05 min] – Conclusion & further study

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Agenda - 1 hour
*NO FREE PIZZA*

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Introduction to BDD &
Executable
Specifications

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The Question
What does the
Customer want?

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Not (only) about testing
1. User Story Acceptance Criteria
2. Shared understanding about outcomes
3. Removes implicit expectations (assumptions)
4. Reduces friction in the team
5. What does our solution do and not do?

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* Driven Development
 “Behavior Driven Development” – Dan North
 “Specification by Example”
 “Executable Specifications”
 “Acceptance Test Driven Development” (ATDD)
 “Test Driven Development”

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Overview of .NET BDD
Tools
(there are a lot)

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.NET BDD Frameworks & Libraries
 SpecFlow – Cucumber for .NET
 NSpec
 MSpec
 TestStack.BDDify
 NBehave
 “Vanila” NUnit/MSTest/xUnit.net

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Explore what’s out there
Have a play and figure out which is best for your team
and organisation
SpecFlow is one of many options
A new awesome framework might be released tomorrow

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Introducing SpecFlow

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DEMO
CODE

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Benefits

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Benefits
 Human readable (Gherkin - DSL)
 Build Context Incrementally
 Specification & Documentation
 Early discovery of assumptions in acceptance criteria
 Early discovery of technical assumptions
 Intermediary (Gherkin) between User Story and Code

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Problems & Pro Tips

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Problems & Pro Tips
 SpecFlow comes from Cucumber (Ruby)
 Sharing state between Steps
 Test organisation & structure
 Test naming
 Mock or end-to-end?
 Maintenance

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BDD and Unit Tests

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BDD and Unit Tests
 Do SpecFlow Specs replace unit tests?
 SpecFlow more suited for larger End-to-end tests
 Unit Tests for Devs, BDDS for SCRUM Team &
Stackholders
 SpecFlow generates NUnit tests automatically
 DEMO

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Conclusion

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Conclusion
Sam’s 3 step guide to success!
1. Capture the User Story Acceptance Criteria as
Gherkins
2. Implement SpecFlow Specs and iterate with changes
to Gherkins [Acceptance Criteria WILL change]
3. You get detailed and correct acceptance criteria and
automated regression tests. Everybody wins.

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Conclusion
 Was it worth it?
 Is anyone going to read our Gherkin Specs?
 The effort (money) needed to create and maintain the
Specs needs to taken into account
 The Team needs to be agile & adopt Gherkin and “Spec
first mentality”
 Change in thinking & culture

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Further Study
 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/307895/what-is-the-
most-mature-bdd-framework-for-net
 http://www.specflow.org/resources/
 Specification by Example [Gojko Adzic, 2011]
 The Cucumber Book [Matt Waynne, 2012]
 The Art of Unit Testing [Roy Osherove, 2009]

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Questions?
BE AGILE

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Thank you