Lean-Agile Acceptance Test-Driven Development: Better Software Through Collaboration

Within the framework of Acceptance Test-Driven-Development (ATDD), customers, developers, and testers collaborate to create acceptance tests that thoroughly describe how software should work from the customer's viewpoint. By tightening the links between customers and agile teams, ATDD can significantly improve both software quality and developer productivity.

This is the first start-to-finish, real-world guide to ATDD for every agile project participant. Leading agile consultant Ken Pugh begins with a dialogue among a customer, developer, and tester, explaining the "what, why, where, when, and how" of ATDD and illuminating the experience of participating in it.

Next, Pugh presents a practical, complete reference to each facet of ATDD, from creating simple tests to evaluating their results. He concludes with five diverse case studies, each identifying a realistic set of problems and challenges with proven solutions. Coverage includes

How to develop software with fully testable requirements

How to simplify and componentize tests and use them to identify missing logic

How to test user interfaces, service implementations, and other tricky elements of a software system

How to identify requirements that are best handled outside software

How to present test results, evaluate them, and use them to assess a project's overall progress

How to build acceptance tests that are mutually beneficial for development organizations and customers

How to scale ATDD to large projects

The book's companion websites, www.netobjectives.com/resources and atdd.biz, provide updates, links to related materials, and support for discussions of the book's content.

Ken Pugh has more than 40 years of software experience. Previously a principal at Pugh-Killeen Associates, he is now a Fellow Consultant for Net Objectives. He has developed software for applications ranging from radar tracking to financial analysis; his responsibilities have included everything from gathering requirements to testing. For nearly a decade, he has worked with teams to create software more effectively with lean and agile processes. Pugh has spoken at Software Development West, Best Practices, Agile Alliance, Better Software, Agile Development Practices, and other leading conferences. In 2006, his book Prefactoring won the prestigious Jolt Award.

Kenneth Pugh has over two-fifths of a century of software experience. Previously a principal at Pugh-Killeen Associates, he is now a fellow consultant for Net Objectives. He has developed software applications ranging from radar tracking to financial analysis. Responsibilities have included everything from gathering requirements to testing. After the start of the new millennium, he has worked with teams to create software more effectively with lean and agile processes. He has spoken at numerous national conferences; consulted and taught all over the world; and testified on technology topics. This is his seventh book. In 2006, his bookPrefactoring won the Jolt Award [DrDobbs01]. In his spare time, he snowboards, windsurfs, and backpacks. Between 1997 and 2003, he completed the Appalachian Trail. The cover photograph of Mount Katahdin, the northern end of the trail, was taken by the author from Abol Bridge in Maine.