Bridging the Communication Gap

by Gojko Adzic

Summary: This book is an excellent guide to using acceptance test driven development and specification by example to improve communication and help build the right product.

Intended Audience: Business analysts, product owners, and the engineering team

Why You Should Read It: You should read this book if you want to
improve the quality of the requirements that define your user stories,
if you have trouble nailing down what you want to build as part of a
story, if you are having difficulty getting stories to a done state, or
if you have communications difficulties about product functionality amongst the various stakeholders
in your organization.

My Takeaways

• People work very well from examples, especially when the subject matter can be complex and abstract.  Specification by Example is an excellent tool as part of Acceptance Tests to help communicate the intent of a user story.
• Many organizations are having great success using tools like FitNesse, Cucumber, and JBehave to automate acceptance testing, thereby forming the basis of a powerful regression suite.
• Acceptance
  tests provide a repeatable and adaptable means to have focused and
  valuable conversations that consistently lead to greater success in
  software projects

Recommended?: Definitely