Author Archives: Liz

The Shallow Dive into Chaos

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Liz

For more on the Chaotic domain and subdomains, read Dave Snowden’s blog post, “…to give birth to a dancing star.” The relationship between separating people that I talk about here, and the Chaotic domain, can be seen in Cynthia Kurtz’s work with … Continue reading →

Posted in complexity, cynefin | 3 Comments

A Stakeholder goes to St. Ives

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Liz

As I was trying to resolve my problem, I met a portfolio team with seven programmes of work. Each programme had seven projects; Each project had seven features; Each feature had seven stories; Each story had seven scenarios. How many things did I need … Continue reading →

Posted in business value | 7 Comments

Using Scenarios for Experiment Design

Posted on January 27, 2015 by Liz

In the complex domain, cause and effect are only correlated in retrospect, and we cannot predict outcomes. We can see them and understand them in retrospect, but the complex domain is the domain of discovery and innovation. Expect the unexpected! … Continue reading →

Posted in cynefin, evil hat, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

A Little Tense

Posted on September 2, 2014 by Liz

Following on from my last blog post about deriving Gherkin from conversations, I wanted to share some tips on tenses. This is beginner stuff, but it turns out there are a lot of beginners out there! It also isn’t gospel, … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 2 Comments

Deriving Gherkin from Real Conversations

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Liz

The “Given, When, Then” format was originally developed by Dan North and Chris Matts, way back in 2004. It was originally intended as a way of describing class behaviour using something that didn’t involve testing. It was a way of … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 1 Comment

A dev walks into a bar…

Posted on August 21, 2014 by Liz

…and says to the barman, “I’m in the bar. I’m thirsty. I have £10.23 in my wallet.” “Great,” says the barman. “What can I get you?” The dev looks around. “When you take that glass and put it in front … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 2 Comments

Using BDD as a Sensemaking Technique

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Liz

A while back, I wrote about Cynefin, a framework for making sense of the world, and for approaching different situations and problems depending on how much certainty or uncertainty they have. As a quick summary, Cynefin has five domains: Simple … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, complexity, cynefin | 3 Comments

Goals vs. Capabilities

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Liz

Every project worth doing has a vision, and someone who’s championed that vision and fought for the budget. That person is the primary stakeholder. (This person is the real product owner; anyone else is just a proxy with a title.) In … Continue reading →

Posted in capability red, complexity, stakeholders | 5 Comments

Discrete vs. Continuous Capabilities

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Liz

A capability is more than just being able to do something. The word which describes being able to do something is ability. I do sometimes use this while describing what a capability is, but there are connotations there that are … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, capability red, stakeholders, testing | 6 Comments

Using BDD with Legacy Systems

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Liz

One question I keep being asked is, “Can we use BDD with our legacy systems?” To help answer this, let me give my simplest definition of BDD: BDD is the art of using examples in conversation to illustrate behaviour. So, … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 12 Comments