Author Archives: Liz

Conversational patterns in BDD

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Liz

BDD isn’t about the tools. It’s about the conversations you have, exploring examples (or scenarios) of an application’s behaviour, to see if everyone has the right understanding. Of course, we don’t know what we don’t know, so feedback is still … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, breaking models | 6 Comments

Splitting stories into tasks – when, why and how (or not)

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Liz

Before I write anything about this, I’d like to clarify what I mean by a task and a story. A feature is something tangible that works and which we could potentially deliver, if it was enough to provide business benefit. … Continue reading →

Posted in feedback, scrum, stories | 14 Comments

Done with Chickens and Pigs

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Liz

If you’re not familiar with the concept of Chickens and Pigs, it’s based on an old joke in which a chicken and a pig set up a restaurant. The chicken wants to call it “Ham’n’Eggs”. The pig says, “No thanks. … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching, conference, scrum | 16 Comments

The Gordon Pask Award

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Liz

Update: I’m told that it’s too late to get the Pask sorted out for this year – we’re Agile, but not that Agile! Please keep nominees in mind, though. Many members of the committee are talking and are keen to … Continue reading →

Posted in conference, life | 4 Comments

Deliberate Discovery – a “Sonnet”

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Liz

Uncertainty’s the muse of all that’s new, And ignorance the space in which she plays; A year’s enough to prove a vision true, But we could prove it false in only days. We dream, and chase our dream, and never … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, deliberate discovery, life, writing | 9 Comments

ATDD vs. BDD, and a potted history of some related stuff

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Liz

Another question that people often ask around or to me is, “What’s the difference between Acceptance Test Driven Development and Behavior Driven Development?” To explain, I’ll go back to the time when I first learnt BDD. BDD started at a … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, business value, stories, testing | 15 Comments

Acceptance Criteria vs. Scenarios

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Liz

Some common confusion I’ve come across recently involves the difference between a Scenario and Acceptance Criteria. I’ll start by defining these two things as I understand them. A scenario is an example of the system’s behavior from one or more … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 27 Comments

Questions on BDD

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Liz

After my BDD tutorial at XP 2011, some attendees asked if I could write up a list of the review questions I asked afterwards. I asked them because they reflected on the things that I hoped the attendees learned, and … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 4 Comments

Gaming Culture with the Dreyfus Model

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Liz

A few people here at the Lean Software & Systems Conference have asked me to write more about using the Dreyfus Model to game culture. I’ve already written quite a bit about the Dreyfus Model – how to use it … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching, learning models | 8 Comments

Be nice to your PMs

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Liz

After my talk at QCon London, some of the feedback I got was that I was really, really mean to PMs. In fairness, I was also mean to Tech Leads, architects and other managers, both in and out of software, … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching | 1 Comment