Why Bother With Cucumber Testing?

submited by

Style Pass

2021-06-07 23:30:11

I recently heard an account of a web development project from both the point of view of the consultancy doing the work and the client. A member of the consultancy told me how they educated a technologically backward client about agile processes. Although this might be tedious for the client initially, with time the client would appreciate their wisdom. Glowing business referrals would follow forever more.

“[X] were a nightmare to deal with. They wouldn’t let me have what I wanted, and they wasted my time arguing over petty details. Although they did the job well, they had no business sense. I can’t see them lasting much longer.”

The consultancy screwed up: Amongst other things, they pushed the client to use a process that wasn’t appropriate. In particular, they gave the client Cucumber feature files to read and approve, even though the client didn’t give a damn. In the client’s words “all we wanted was a website”. (It was actually a web app but most non-technical people don’t draw a distinction). The client just wanted it “to work”.

Scenario, but not feature description taken from You’re Cuking It Wrong. (Note that Jonas doesn’t give his clients Cukes to read.)