Get Cracking in Digital with Behavior-Driven Development

As 2018 further accelerates the digital age, here’s a cheat code to get you cracking. The thing that everyone by now has figured out is – it’s not just about building a product that’s right according to you, it needs to be right as per the end user. And, if it takes too long or isn’t up to the mark, your product has failed even before it is launched. The bottom line is, Digital is all about customers – and the key to success is making sure you know the customers’ pulse.

Which brings me to the point of this blog – behavior-driven development (BDD). A lot has been said about BDD since it came to the forefront a decade back, and it has been applauded and debunked, all the same. It’s more like this elephant that the six blind men define as per whatever they can get their hands on. Piecemeal and prejudiced.

And why just any other Agile practice doesn’t get you what BDD does? Because Agile typically works on interpretation – the developer interprets what the business analysts want, the testers test what they think the business analysts asked for – basically, everyone just shoots in the dark, only really fast. BDD ensures there’s no shooting in the dark.

To fully leverage the benefits that BDD brings on board, it has to be implemented in its entirety. It’s not a toolset, neither a methodology – it’s a culture change that needs to be embedded in the very fabric of an organization. It’s just how you do things – by default. What it helps you do is align your products and services with end-user behavior, through a process that brings the three amigos– business analyst, developer and quality assurance – on the same page. So you develop what is essential and test what is important to the customer. Win-win, right?

But if it was as easy as I make it sound, it would be futile to write a blog on BDD. Everyone would be doing it, just the way it is supposed to be done. Since, that’s not the case, here are a few pointers you can consider for a smoother transition to a BDD based development model.

Know Yourself Before You Get to Know Your Customer

When you start to enlist criteria that your customers may want fulfilled by your product/service, the one most important thing to think about is – if you know the people who are going to help you build such a product/service. See if you can communicate messages clearly, because that’s precisely what BDD entails. Here’s a checklist before you jumpstart:

·        Automate Inline - Early, Often and Throughout

·        Orchestrate Quality via Collaboration

·        Be DevOps ready

A successful BDD implementation needs leadership commitment across groups and levels. Start small, take short iteration for pilot and with initial success, socialize, evangelize and take the journey ahead.

Watch this space for more as I take up each of these pointers to get your BDD implementation rolling.