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The BDD Books: Formulation
What do good scenarios using the Given/When/Then-based format called Gherkin look like? Good scenarios can illustrate requirements, serve as documentation of detailed decisions, and be used as automated tests that are easy to maintain. The Gherkin format is supported by many BDD tools, including the different flavors of Cucumber, Behat or SpecFlow, but the ideas described in the book are also suitable for other BDD tools, like JBehave or Robot Framework.
This book is written for everyone involved in the specification and delivery of software: product owners, business analysts, developers, and testers.
This is the second in the BDD Books series that will guide you through the entire development process, including specific technical practices needed to successfully drive development using collaboratively-authored specifications and living documentation.
This book is written for everyone involved in the specification and delivery of software: product owners, business analysts, developers, and testers.
This is the second in the BDD Books series that will guide you through the entire development process, including specific technical practices needed to successfully drive development using collaboratively-authored specifications and living documentation.
- GenresProgrammingSoftware
168 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 21, 2021
21 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 24, 2021
The second book on BDD by Gáspár Nagy and Seb Rose is all about turning the discovered requirements into a common understanding. The formulation of the feature files may be the most visible one, but it is not the only one. The book offers lots and lots of great little tricks that makes the formulation part a lot less cumbersome. Definitely a must-read for everyone that wants to do BDD and even better than the first book, but it helps if you have a bit of practical knowledge before you read this book.
May 23, 2021
I found it a little hard to follow along with the “conversations” which make up a large part of the book. I understand what they’re there, and do a pretty good job of illustrating what formulation is all about, there’s just something a little difficult about switching context between characters talking about a thing, and the book then explaining it.
That said, I did learn a lot from the book, and I’m excited to start using it in practice at work.
That said, I did learn a lot from the book, and I’m excited to start using it in practice at work.
January 31, 2022
Perfect introduction to the language of BDD.
October 17, 2025
Excellent book that clearly describes the formulation step of BDD - lots of examples of how to use Gherkin, structure the documentation.
September 18, 2021
Packed with very interesting advices about the formulation part of BDD (writing feature files, scenarion, given/when/then). Even if I think I am an experienced BDD practicionner, I learned some good tips !
However, a lot of writing discussions which, for me, makes the book a bit less focused.
However, a lot of writing discussions which, for me, makes the book a bit less focused.
April 30, 2021
Teaches BDD Formulation, serves as a reference manual - a great book in all respects
Review summary:
I recommend the "Formulation" book to everyone who wants to understand how to do Formulation, the second step of Behaviour Driven Development. The chapters are short and well structured, the message is clear, easy to understand and accompanied by fitting illustrations. A great plus is that the book is completely free of any exaggeration, or annoying self-marketing, so it stays short enough to be a weekend read. Nevertheless, you will find yourself getting back to it as a handy reference manual and a source of inspiration on your BDD journey.
Details:
I work as an analyst in a team developing online banking for banks in several countries of the CEE region. For the first time I heard about Behaviour Driven Development in 2017 when we wanted to innovate and improve our way of working. My original understanding of BDD was wrong - I thought it was a tool for writing tests in the Given/When/Then format. The concept of BDD is simple, yet not easy. Fortunately, I managed to realise my misunderstanding rather fast and to a large extent it was thanks to Gaspar Nagy and Seb Rose who I met at the Craft Conference in Budapest, 2018.
At that conference I got their back then just released "Discovery" book and I would not be able to count how many times I have recommended it to other people since that moment on. The "Discovery" book needed just 100 pages to explain the most essential part of BDD. When people finish reading "Discovery", they start asking: "Can I read a similar book on the Formulation?"
Seb and Gaspar have taken their time to make sure they would deliver again. It took them 3 years to write the "Formulation" book, yet I have followed their progress on Leanpub where they have published a beta version and constantly iterated on it until today when we have the polished result of their painstaking efforts.
Since the first version of "Formulation" was published, I have used the book not only to teach myself do formulation correctly, but also as an indispensable reference manual on the Gherkin syntax, structuring Given/When/Then scenarios, organising project files etc.
I appreciate that the authors again took the same approach they used in the "Discovery" book and they teach formulation by showing an imaginary team using it. This reads like a story where you see the delivery team members making mistakes, asking questions, and considering various options - like any of us do in everyday life.
I also like the side notes in form of "Gaspar's story" and "Seb's story" in which the authors share their reflections on situations from past projects, and bring this way the book closer to the reality.
Every chapter is also concluded with a brief summary of what we have just learned in it - when reading the book, I read this summary first to know what exactly the chapter was about.
I recommend the "Formulation" book to everyone who wants to learn how to do Formulation, the second step of BDD. The book goes straight to the point, it is well structured into short chapters, contains fitting illustrations, and since it is completely free of any exaggeration or stupid self-marketing, it stays short enough to be a weekend read. Though, trust me, you are going to go back to it again and again.
I have read an electronic version of the book on a 10" tablet, so nothing to complain here about, because this easily enables me to highlight, take nots, zoom illustrations, and refer to it anytime I need.
I cannot find drawback to mention about the "Formulation" book. Maybe just a wish - I have not seen the paperback version yet, however, remembering what the "Discovery" book was like, I think colour printing would be certainly a recommendable enhancement, especially for some of the images accompanying the text.
Review summary:
I recommend the "Formulation" book to everyone who wants to understand how to do Formulation, the second step of Behaviour Driven Development. The chapters are short and well structured, the message is clear, easy to understand and accompanied by fitting illustrations. A great plus is that the book is completely free of any exaggeration, or annoying self-marketing, so it stays short enough to be a weekend read. Nevertheless, you will find yourself getting back to it as a handy reference manual and a source of inspiration on your BDD journey.
Details:
I work as an analyst in a team developing online banking for banks in several countries of the CEE region. For the first time I heard about Behaviour Driven Development in 2017 when we wanted to innovate and improve our way of working. My original understanding of BDD was wrong - I thought it was a tool for writing tests in the Given/When/Then format. The concept of BDD is simple, yet not easy. Fortunately, I managed to realise my misunderstanding rather fast and to a large extent it was thanks to Gaspar Nagy and Seb Rose who I met at the Craft Conference in Budapest, 2018.
At that conference I got their back then just released "Discovery" book and I would not be able to count how many times I have recommended it to other people since that moment on. The "Discovery" book needed just 100 pages to explain the most essential part of BDD. When people finish reading "Discovery", they start asking: "Can I read a similar book on the Formulation?"
Seb and Gaspar have taken their time to make sure they would deliver again. It took them 3 years to write the "Formulation" book, yet I have followed their progress on Leanpub where they have published a beta version and constantly iterated on it until today when we have the polished result of their painstaking efforts.
Since the first version of "Formulation" was published, I have used the book not only to teach myself do formulation correctly, but also as an indispensable reference manual on the Gherkin syntax, structuring Given/When/Then scenarios, organising project files etc.
I appreciate that the authors again took the same approach they used in the "Discovery" book and they teach formulation by showing an imaginary team using it. This reads like a story where you see the delivery team members making mistakes, asking questions, and considering various options - like any of us do in everyday life.
I also like the side notes in form of "Gaspar's story" and "Seb's story" in which the authors share their reflections on situations from past projects, and bring this way the book closer to the reality.
Every chapter is also concluded with a brief summary of what we have just learned in it - when reading the book, I read this summary first to know what exactly the chapter was about.
I recommend the "Formulation" book to everyone who wants to learn how to do Formulation, the second step of BDD. The book goes straight to the point, it is well structured into short chapters, contains fitting illustrations, and since it is completely free of any exaggeration or stupid self-marketing, it stays short enough to be a weekend read. Though, trust me, you are going to go back to it again and again.
I have read an electronic version of the book on a 10" tablet, so nothing to complain here about, because this easily enables me to highlight, take nots, zoom illustrations, and refer to it anytime I need.
I cannot find drawback to mention about the "Formulation" book. Maybe just a wish - I have not seen the paperback version yet, however, remembering what the "Discovery" book was like, I think colour printing would be certainly a recommendable enhancement, especially for some of the images accompanying the text.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews