Click on the title to listen to a podcast from Agile 2006, with Bob Payne as your host. I spoke mostly about XP Day North America, and the plan sounds dated now. We didn’t run the conference in Austin, in Portland, in St. Louis… but we still have plans to get there eventually. Manhattan is likely a “go” for autumn 2007, and we hope to pick up the pace in 2008. And yes, I am a columnist for IEEE Software, but no, I haven’t started writing that other book yet.

Discuss

At Agile 2006 I hosted a discovery session entitled “The Truth about Programmers and Testers”. The goal of the session is to help programmers and testers understand each other more, have more insight into the other group’s motivations and concerns. I thought the session was quite successful, and I remember feeling quite good about it when it ended. Today, I received feedback from the attendees, which was mixed. One comment stuck out.

I hoped for more ideas on how to get past the animosity between testers and programmers… not so much [a] gripe session.

I’m stumped by this one. I think the key way to get past the animosity between the two groups is to sit them down together and ask them to talk about the exact things we discussed in the session! The exercise itself is the killer idea on how to get past the animosity between testers and programmers!

This is a hazard of a real discovery session, I guess. Next time, if you simply want to be told what to do, please attend a tutorial.

Discuss

Tonight I gave the first of two webinars on Test-Driven Development with J2EE. This is a condensed version of my popular tutorial, one which I have conducted at Agile 2006, XP 2006, Agile 2005, SD West 2005 and XP/Agile Universe 2004. This version has new, up-to-date content and provides a key insight into how to test complex J2EE applications almost entirely in memory. If you’re interested, click the title of this entry to learn more. The next show is 10 AM ET Wednesday, August 9.

Discuss

Our discovery session entitled “The Truth about Programmers and Testers” created some wonderful discussion. We brainstormed a number of topics about the relationship between programmers and testers, broke into groups, discussed them, then reported results to the larger group. I am asking you now, if you have notes from that discussion, to post them. Click the title of this entry get started.

Thank you for everyone who took the time to join us and explore this important topic. I will keep in touch about whether there is enough material for a paper.

Discuss

On May 21, I wrote the world’s shortest article on Behavior-Driven Development. Although the title links to the entire article, it is so short that I can reproduce it here.

What is Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)?

It is Test-Driven Development (TDD) practiced correctly; nothing more.

At the time, I wrote this in anger, for reasons that I’m too tired to get in to just now (it is 4:30 AM on the last day of Agile 2006), but I wanted to share with you that my anger is changing to some more positive emotion regarding this topic.

The fact that BDD and TDD are equivalent—isomorphic, even—has its good points and bad points. I am unclear at the present moment whether the good outweigh the bad or the other way around.

What I dislike about the existence of two (perhaps three or more) different names for the same thing is that it can confuse people and divide them. Think of a single language written in two alphabets: while the speakers understand one another, they cannot read one another’s literature. I would hate to see that happen.

What I like about it is that we have two (perhaps three or more) standard approaches to explaining the technique that suit different audiences. To some, the word “test” resonates well, and to others, the words “behavior” or “example” resonate well. Rather than haphazardly sprinkling the word “behavior” into conversations about TDD, we can use an entire, cohesive vocabulary to explain TDD to someone who prefers to talk about behaviors over tests. I imagine this would help.

I would like to thank the people in room 2411 of the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis for their willingness to participate in a spirited debate on this topic. It was tiring, and it was late, but I found it worth the effort.

Discuss