Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD)

Anushree Chatterjee

Ever wondered how to ensure that the software you’re building is exactly what your customers want? Or perhaps you’ve faced the frustration of delivering a product that doesn’t quite hit the mark? If you can relate to these problems, then you haven’t tried Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD).

It ensures that your team builds the right thing by working closely with your customers to define clear “acceptance criteria” before writing a single line of code.

Let’s learn more about ATDD in the article.

ATDD Meaning

ATDD or Acceptance Test-Driven Development, is a way of building software that starts with the end goal in mind. Think of it as a team agreeing on what “success” looks like before anyone starts coding. It involves the entire project team – business analysts, developers, and testers. This proactive approach leads to higher quality, more efficient development, and increased customer satisfaction.

How Does ATDD Testing Work?

Here’s how ATDD works:

• Team Collaboration: Everyone involved in the project sits down together to talk about what the software needs to do. They create a shared understanding of what the end result should look like.
• Define the Rules of Success: The team writes down clear, simple rules or “acceptance tests” to describe how they’ll know if the software is working as expected. For example, “When a customer logs in, they should see their dashboard.“
• Build to Meet the Rules: Developers then write code that meets these rules, which ensures that the software does exactly what the team agreed upon.
• Check and Improve: These “acceptance tests” are run automatically to confirm that the software works. If it doesn’t, the team goes back, fixes it, and keeps improving.

Principles of ATDD

ATDD is all about working together as a team to build software that meets everyone’s expectations. The principles behind ATDD guide how the process works and why it’s effective.

Let’s break them down into simple terms:

Collaboration

• Working Together: Everyone involved in the project – developers, testers, business analysts, and sometimes even customers – works as a team to define what “done” means for each feature.
• Shared Understanding: The team creates clear, shared definitions (called acceptance criteria) to ensure they all have the same vision of what the software should do.
• Cross-Functional Teams: By involving people with different skills and perspectives, the team ensures they understand the system’s behavior from all angles.
• Open Communication: Regular discussions help the team clarify expectations, resolve any confusion, and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Customer Focus

• Start with User Stories: ATDD begins with user stories, which are short descriptions of what a user wants to achieve with a feature. For example, “As a shopper, I want to see my order history so I can keep track of my purchases.”
• Define Success: The team writes acceptance criteria, which are like a checklist of what needs to happen for the story to be complete. For instance, “When a shopper logs in, they should see a list of their past orders.”
• Real-Life Scenarios: The team focuses on real-world situations to make sure the software behaves as expected in practical use cases.

Test-First Approach

• Write Tests Before Code: Before writing a single line of code, the team writes automated tests that describe how the system should behave. These tests act as a guide for development.
• TDD at a Bigger Scale: ATDD applies the principles of Test-Driven Development (TDD), but instead of just focusing on small pieces of code, it looks at the entire system. This ensures the software works as a whole and meets the acceptance criteria.

Automation

• Automated Tests for Efficiency: The acceptance testing is automated, so it can be run repeatedly without extra effort. This ensures the system continues to meet the criteria as new features are added.
• Integrated into CI/CD: Automated tests are part of the CI/CD pipeline. This means tests run every time new code is added, giving quick feedback if something breaks.

Iterative Development

• Agile-Friendly: ATDD works hand-in-hand with Agile methodologies, which focus on building and improving software in small, manageable steps.
• Continuous Feedback: The team regularly reviews the results of the acceptance testing and gathers feedback from users to refine and improve the system over time.

ATDD vs. BDD vs. TDD

Seeing these terms together can get confusing. These are techniques for building software that prioritizes testing, but they focus on different aspects.

Let’s look at the three separately to understand better.

ATDD (Acceptance Test-Driven Development)

BDD (Behavior-Driven Development)

TDD (Test-Driven Development)

How Do ATDD, BDD, and TDD Work Together?

• ATDD defines the end goal and ensures the system delivers what the users need.
• BDD focuses on how the system behaves, making the features understandable to everyone.
• TDD ensures that the individual parts of the code are working as intended.

Think of it like this:

• ATDD is deciding on the destination (the big picture).
• BDD is mapping out the journey with clear instructions.
• TDD is making sure every part of the car works so you can actually make the trip.

By combining all three, teams can create reliable, user-focused software that works at every level.

Here are some related resources that will help you understand these techniques even better:

• Mastering Agile with BDD: Unleashing the Power of Behavior-Driven Development
• What is BDD 2.0 (SDD)?
• What is a BDD Framework? The Complete Introduction
• What is Behavior Driven Development (BDD)? Everything You Should Know
• Top 5 BDD Tools: How to Choose Among Them?
• What is Test Driven Development? TDD vs. BDD vs. SDD
• TDD vs BDD – What’s the Difference Between TDD and BDD?
• Mastering Gherkin for Software Testing: A Step-by-Step Guide

Challenges in ATDD Testing

While ATDD can improve collaboration and help deliver better software, it’s not always smooth sailing. Teams often face challenges when trying to implement ATDD effectively. Here’s a breakdown of common challenges and practical ways to overcome them:

Lack of Stakeholder Involvement

• The Challenge: ATDD relies on collaboration between developers, testers, and business stakeholders to define acceptance criteria. Sometimes, stakeholders (like product owners or business analysts) are too busy or don’t see the value in participating.
• Why It’s a Problem: Without stakeholder input, the team may misunderstand the requirements or focus on the wrong priorities.
• How to Overcome It:
  • Educate Stakeholders: Explain the benefits of their involvement, such as fewer misunderstandings and better software that meets their needs.
  • Schedule Collaborative Sessions: Set up short, regular workshops to define acceptance criteria. Keep them focused and efficient.
  • Show Results: Share examples of how past projects benefited from stakeholder involvement to build trust and buy-in.

Writing Clear and Testable Acceptance Criteria

• The Challenge: Teams often struggle to write acceptance criteria that are both clear and easy to turn into automated tests. Criteria may be too vague or overly complex.
• Why It’s a Problem: Poorly written criteria lead to confusion, inconsistent tests, and potential bugs in the software.
• How to Overcome It:
  • Use Plain Language: Write criteria in simple, everyday terms. Avoid technical jargon that might confuse non-technical stakeholders.
  • Follow a Format: Use templates like “Given-When-Then” to structure criteria.
  • Test the Criteria Early: Before writing code, discuss and validate the criteria as a team to ensure everyone understands them.

High Initial Setup and Learning Curve

• The Challenge: Implementing ATDD requires learning new tools, frameworks, and workflows. Teams may find this overwhelming at first.
• Why It’s a Problem: If the team isn’t confident, they may resist adopting ATDD or revert to old habits.
• How to Overcome It:
  • Start Small: Pilot ATDD on a single feature or small project instead of trying to apply it across everything at once.
  • Invest in Training: Provide hands-on training and resources for tools like Cucumber, FitNesse, or Robot Framework.
  • Pair with Experts: Work with someone experienced in ATDD to guide the team through the process.

Maintaining Automated Tests

• The Challenge: Over time, automated acceptance tests can become hard to maintain, especially if the system changes frequently.
• Why It’s a Problem: Outdated or flaky tests slow down development and reduce confidence in the system.
• How to Overcome It:
  • Write Modular Tests: Keep tests focused on specific behaviors, so they’re easier to update when things change.
  • Review Tests Regularly: Periodically review and clean up old tests to remove unnecessary ones or fix flaky ones.
  • Use Version Control: Track changes to tests alongside code changes to ensure alignment.

Difficulty Aligning with Agile Processes

• The Challenge: ATDD aligns well with Agile, but teams may find it hard to integrate the two. For example, they may struggle to complete acceptance testing within a sprint.
• Why It’s a Problem: Incomplete tests or features can disrupt the Agile rhythm and lead to unfinished work.
• How to Overcome It:
  • Break Features into Smaller Chunks: Write acceptance criteria and tests for small, manageable pieces of functionality that can be completed in a sprint.
  • Plan for Test Writing: Include time for defining and automating tests in the sprint planning process.
  • Use Feedback Loops: Regularly review test results during the sprint to ensure alignment with goals.

Tools to Automate ATDD Tests

While you can use tools like Cucumber, SpecFlow, Robot Framework or FitNesse to write acceptance tests, there are better alternatives available these days. You can skip the hassle of having middlemen translate requirements into test cases and then into test scripts that are ready for automation. AI-based tools like testRigor let you write specifications directly as test scripts. Here’s how this tool makes testing more efficient and suitable for Agile environments:

• Directly write acceptance tests as test scripts. testRigor uses generative AI and NLP to let you write plain English language commands that it then runs. The system altogether bypasses the need and reliance on implementation-based UI element recognition (XPaths or CSS). Simply write what you see on the screen and where you saw it.
  For example, you can mention clicking on a button that appears to the left of another button in this way click on “Login” to the left of “Profile”. Apart from writing these test cases yourself, you can use the other features that testRigor offers to quickly create test cases like the record-and-playback tool, auto-generating test cases using generative AI, and live mode.
• testRigor offers reduced test maintenance by not relying on UI element locators. The tool also uses AI to reduce flakiness and test execution time.
• Integrate with other platforms and services to build a broader testing ecosystem.

Thus, with testRigor, you can automate your acceptance testing across platforms and browsers in no time. All this while involving your entire team in the process. Here’s an exhaustive list of the tool’s features.

Conclusion

ATDD isn’t just about writing tests – it’s a mindset of teamwork, clarity, and delivering value to the customer. By focusing on what is acceptable to the customer, teams are more likely to use their resources productively. While challenges such as stakeholder involvement, test maintenance, and alignment with Agile processes can arise, they can be managed with proper planning, tools, and training. Tools like testRigor can further streamline the process by simplifying test creation, reducing maintenance efforts, and accelerating execution.

Ultimately, adopting ATDD empowers your team to focus on delivering real value, ensuring that each feature is functional and meets the defined success criteria on time.

“We spent so much time on maintenance when using Selenium, and we spend nearly zero time with maintenance using testRigor.”

Keith Powe VP Of Engineering - IDT