Specification by Example: How Successful Teams Deliver the Right Software [Paperback]

Gojko Adzic (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 3, 2011

Summary

Specification by Example is an emerging practice for creating software based on realistic examples, bridging the communication gap between business stakeholders and the dev teams building the software. In this book, author Gojko Adzic distills interviews with successful teams worldwide, sharing how they specify, develop, and deliver software, without defects, in short iterative delivery cycles.

About the Technology

Specification by Example is a collaborative method for specifying requirements and tests. Seven patterns, fully explored in this book, are key to making the method effective. The method has four main benefits: it produces living, reliable documentation; it defines expectations clearly and makes validation efficient; it reduces rework; and, above all, it assures delivery teams and business stakeholders that the software that's built is right for its purpose.

About the Book

This book distills from the experience of leading teams worldwide effective ways to specify, test, and deliver software in short, iterative delivery cycles. Case studies in this book range from small web startups to large financial institutions, working in many processes including XP, Scrum, and Kanban.

This book is written for developers, testers, analysts, and business people working together to build great software.

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

What's Inside

• Common process patterns
• How to avoid bad practices
• Fitting SBE in your process
• 50+ case studies

For additional resources go to specificationbyexample.com.

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Table of Contents

Part 1 Getting started

1. Key benefits
2. Key process patterns
3. Living documentation
4. Initiating the changes

Part 2 Key process patterns

5. Deriving scope from goals
6. Specifying collaboratively
7. Illustrating using examples
8. Refining the specification
9. Automating validation without changing specifications
10. Validating frequently
11. Evolving a documentation system

Part 3 Case studies

12. uSwitch
13. RainStor
14. Iowa Student Loan
15. Sabre Airline Solutions
16. ePlan Services
17. Songkick
18. Concluding thoughts

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A UK based consultant, Gojko Adzic helps teams worldwide implement specification by example and agile testing practices. He has written two previous books on the subject and contributed to several open source projects supporting specification by example. Gojko is a frequent speaker at leading software development and testing conferences and runs the UK Agile Testing User Group.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; 1 edition (June 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1617290084
• ISBN-13: 978-1617290084
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Software Design, Testing & Engineering > Testing
  • #31 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Systems Analysis & Design
  • #33 in Books > Computers & Technology > Computer Science > Software Engineering > Design Tools & Techniques

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Standard Reference on Specification by Example and A-TDD June 24, 2011

By Bas Vodde

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Specification by Example is Gojko's third book on this subject. The first book, Fitness.net, was very technical and tool oriented. The second book, Bridging the Communication Gap, was a lot more coordination oriented. Now his third book, this one, he describes practices that teams he studied have used. From that perspective, this book is the follow-up of Bridging and might go a little fast if you are totally unfamiliar with the subject.

The book is divided in three parts. The first part is mainly introduction where Gojko describes the benefits and the key practices that will be described in this book. The second part is the actual description of the key practices and the third part are different case studies about different teams in different companies that have adopted specification by example.

The key practices that are introduced in part one and described in part 2 are:
- Deriving scope from goals
- Specifying collaboratively
- Illustrating using example
- Refining the specification
- Automating without changing the specification
- Validating frequently
- Evolving a documentation system

Deriving scope from goals discusses how customers main concert is not the software but solving a problem and developers shouldn't just expect to get the requirements from the customer but work together with them to help them to solve their problem in the best way. Specifying collaboratively covers how the customer and the teams will cooperatively define the specifications that the team will be implementing later. Illustrating using examples explains how these specifications can be described best by moving from abstract requirements to concrete examples. Refining the specification then takes the essence out of the requirements and describes them in the clearest possible way. After that, the specification can be automated without changing the specification and this chapter gives tips on how to do that. When the specifications are automated, you want to run them frequently which is described in the validate frequently chapter. Evolving a documentation system describes how the specifications become the documentation of what the system does. They stay in-sync with the system because they are continuously executed.

The third part described a couple of case studies of companies that implemented specification by example. I really loved these case studies and they were written very well.

I've read both of Gojko's earlier books and had high expectations for this book. I was not disappointed, it is an excellent follow-up and will be my standard book reference on Specification by Example (or A-TDD as it is also called). The book is not perfect though. As times I felt there was too much focus on documentation and too little on collaboration. Still, I'd rate this book five stars and recommend everyone in an Agile development team to read this and practice specification by example.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars CAUTION: This book could seriously improve the way you deliver software!!! October 11, 2011

By A Spec by Example user "from the real world"

Format:Paperback

The concepts in this book, process patterns as Gojko describes them, seem quite straight forward and that's partly because they are, partly because they are very well described within and partly because they just make so much sense.

Its pages describe one of the most effective ways in which teams can build the right product and build that product right. Specification by Example harnesses some key attributes of agile frameworks such as Lean & XP in a mechanism that allows teams to get from business ideas to an implemented and evolving (self-documented) product with the minimum of fuss or waste.

What's more from the research undertaken with real teams in real companies, you the reader, can learn from the many other practitioners who have been using and honing these techniques in the field (that's a real field by the way, with grass and everything).

I think it's rare to get this amount of good practical advice from so many teams distilled into a single reference guide alongside the process.

A fantastic book which should be the accompaniment of every software team member!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars "Specification by Example" with no examples February 12, 2013

By Yuriy Zubarev

Format:Paperback

One one hand, the book is not deep, reflective and well argued enough to be a timeless classic. One the other hand, it lacks concrete examples, steps and instructions to be a timely and actionable cookbook. It hangs in a midair between realms of inspirational and practical, touching on both and delivering on none.

I was really looking forward to read this book after hearing an interview with the author on Devnology podcast. It pains me to admit that reading it was not a time well spent. How could the author call his approach "Specification by Example" and offer no end-to-end examples that could be studied, evaluated and replicated? Please comment with a page number(s) for such examples if you disagree, and I will be more than happy to admit my blindness.