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.