Specification by Example (SBE)

Specification by Example is an agile approach to delivering software where the requirements are defined as executable specifications. Teams identify the scope of the work and illustrate the intended behaviour through examples. The key examples are refined into executable specifications which are then turned into automated tests. These test can then act as living documentation for the software. In order to provide human readable tests for the living documentation, tests may be written in Gherkin based frameworks or other frameworks such as Concordion or FitNesse. The methodology has significant overlap with BDD and ATDD.

Definition: Specification by example is a way of defining requirements using concrete examples, such as sample files, messages or data screens, rather than abstract descriptions alone. The examples clarify what's needed and can become automated acceptance tests.

So what? Asking for real examples pushes the hardest questions back to the business early. A piece of data nobody can specify often reveals that a whole requirement is problematic, before money is spent building it.

Examples: Refusing to start building a payment channel until example messages for each use case are agreed. Asking for mock-ups of data screens before writing acceptance tests.