Test-Driven Development (TDD) has been so successful that it's now unfashionable. But many developers complain that being required to write tests just gets in the way of shipping features. That wasn't our experience when we first stumbled onto TDD a dozen years ago, so what went wrong? Were we fooling ourselves, or did the message get confused along the way?
In this talk, I will revisit the basics, the essence of what makes TDD work. I will look at some of the common difficulties that I see with teams that are struggling. I will show how understanding the principles means that we can use tests to help us deliver more effectively.
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Steve Freeman, author of Growing Object Oriented Software, Guided by Tests (Addison-Wesley), was a pioneer of Agile software development in the UK. He has developed software for a range of institutions, from small vendors to multinational investment banks. Steve trains and consults for software teams around the world. Previously, he has worked in research labs and software houses, earned a PhD (Cambridge), written shrink-wrap applications for IBM, and taught at University College London. Steve is a presenter and organiser at international industry conferences, and was chair of the first London XpDay.
Twitter: @sf105
Video presentations: Sustainable Test-Driven Development, Transparency: A Great Leap Forward or Exposed Artery?, Test Driven Development: Ten Years Later, Making Roles Explicit
