Behavior-driven development (BDD) is a collaborative approach to software development that focuses on defining and testing software behaviors from the end-users’ perspective.
It bridges the gap between technical teams and business stakeholders by using a shared language to describe desired outcomes. This ensures everyone involved understands the software's purpose and functionality.
A software development methodology that focuses on defining and testing behaviors from the perspective of the end user.
BDD improves communication, collaboration, software quality and time to market.
BDD requires upfront investment in tooling and process and may be challenging for complex systems.
BDD is widely used in agile software development to ensure software meets user needs and is delivered efficiently.
What is behavior-driven development?
Behavior-driven development (BDD) is a software development methodology that aims to bridge the gap between technology and business stakeholders by putting the end user at the center of how things are defined and tested. It’s often compared with test-driven development (TDD) but there are some significant differences: where BDD centers on ensuring code meets the needs of users. TDD focuses on the maintainability and clarity of the code.
It’s wrong to think that one is better than the other: TDD is typically preferred when developer needs come first (in terms of debugging and evolving the code), while BDD is more useful when it is critical for business stakeholders to have involvement in what is being built.
What’s in it for you?
BDD offers several advantages for businesses:
Improved communication: BDD uses a shared language (Gherkin) that’s understandable to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, which promotes better communication and collaboration.
Faster time to market: BDD's automated testing and focus on delivering value can accelerate the development process and reduce time to market.
Reduced risk: BDD's emphasis on testing early and often helps identify and address potential issues early in the development cycle, reducing risks and costs.
Improved maintainability: BDD's living documentation, written in plain language, makes it easier to understand and maintain the software's functionality over time.
Increased customer satisfaction: By delivering software that meets users' needs, BDD can lead to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
By focusing on end-user outcomes, BDD helps teams deliver software that truly meets the needs of their customers. It promotes communication, collaboration and ensures that the software aligns with the business objectives.
What are the trade-offs of BDD?
Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) has some potential disadvantages:
There’s an initial learning curve. Adopting BDD might require some initial investment in learning the Gherkin syntax and tools.
There’s often increased upfront effort. Creating detailed scenarios and automating them can require more upfront effort compared to traditional testing methods.
It can be complex for large projects. BDD can become more complex for large, intricate projects with many interdependent components.
You will depend on a certain set of tools. BDD heavily relies on specific tools like Cucumber or SpecFlow, which can introduce dependencies and potential maintenance challenges.
Over-reliance on scenarios. If your scenarios aren’t well-written or maintained, they can become outdated and ineffective.
- Limited coverage. BDD doesn’t cover all aspects of software testing, which means teams may miss non-functional requirements or edge cases.
How is BDD being used?
BDD is widely used wherever it is particularly critical that software quality is aligned with user needs or where getting business stakeholders and technology teams to work together is really important (such as areas where the business problem/challenge is particularly tricky to translate). For this reason, it’s proving particularly valuable in fields like financial services and healthcare where privacy and regulatory compliance is particularly important.
