Scrum Agile Project Management

Using Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) for Backlog Refinement in Scrum

Backlog refinement is an important part of the Scrum team activity as it allows to gain a shared understanding of the work flow. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is a technique that use a business language to define acceptance testing (test cases) of requirements. In this article, Zia Malik explains how teams can use BDD to support product backlog refinement.

At the beginning of each sprint, the Scrum team members and the product owner meet to discuss and write out the conditions of acceptance testing for the next-highest priority Product Backlog Item (PBI), using the BDD format of “given-when-then” for each scenario. However, at this moment not all BDD scenario will be captured, so that this session will not be a drain on the team. The conclusion is that Behavior-Driven Development is “a great way to get your team working well on many levels, not just the obvious in terms of backlog refinement but also in pushing it to communicate regularly. It supports healthy team discussion and thus allows the team to bond and grow.”

Read the complete article on http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/500-value-of-behaviordriven-development-for-backlog-refinement-in-scrum