When your team and clients have differing expectations around BDD (Behavior Driven Development), clear communication and collaboration are key. Start by organizing a workshop to align both sides on the purpose and benefits of BDD. Use simple, understandable language to write scenarios and involve both clients and team members in the process. Leverage tools like Cucumber to create executable specifications that meet client expectations while ensuring technical feasibility. Regular reviews and feedback loops will help bridge any remaining gaps, fostering shared understanding.

BDD testing depends on the idea of tres amigos (or, three friends). In software development, we don’t always share the same perspectives, and a common ground between them should be to facilitate seamless communication. The tres amigos include: Product Owner: representing the business side, they simply want to solve a problem in hand. Developer: representing the development side, they want to come up with a smart solution to solve the problem of the Product Owner. Tester: representing the QA side, they want to know if the solution can actually solve the problem, and what can possibly be wrong with the solution.

I will bridge the gap by organizing discussions to align the team and clients on BDD expectations, focusing on user stories, acceptance criteria, and test scenarios for clear understanding.

We can organize the workshop with both the team and clients to discuss and understand requirements. Involve clients in the process with regular demos and feedback loops. We can use visual flowcharts to represent BDD scenarios. Use tools that enhance collaboration and do regular check-ins.

To bridge differing expectations in BDD, initiate a workshop with both the team and clients to align on desired outcomes, focusing on shared understanding of feature behavior. Facilitate collaborative discussions to refine Gherkin scenarios, ensuring they are clear, consistent, and meet both technical and business needs. Promote an iterative feedback cycle with clients to validate scenarios early. By fostering open communication, defining shared vocabulary, and keeping clients involved in the scenario-writing process, expectations can be effectively aligned for successful outcomes.