Experian

Client Background

Our client, a prominent player in the B2B data industry, had a robust infrastructure and highly skilled teams. However, they recognized the need to evolve their software delivery processes to keep pace with market demands and maintain their competitive edge. Despite their delivery maturity, the company faced challenges in achieving true CI/CD due to siloed workflows and manual testing and deployment processes.

The Project

At Acue, we pride ourselves on helping companies embrace cutting-edge methodologies to optimize their software delivery pipelines. We had the privilege of working with a leading FTSE 100 data company that was keen to transition its high-performing teams to achieve true Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery (CI/CD). This case study outlines how we delivered a Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD) workshop to empower their teams and facilitate the transition to CI/CD seamlessly.

Project Goals

• Legacy Change processes: The company’s Change Management process, persisted by manual technical processes, led to slow change cycles with manual human requirements and excessive change gates causing challenges in delivering value to market.
• Manual Testing: Manual testing processes prolonged release cycles, hindering the company’s ability to deploy updates swiftly and reliably.
• Mindset Shift: Some team members were hesitant to adopt new methodologies and tools, fearing disruption to their established workflows.
• Manual deployments: propagated by manual test and change practices were the norm, and combined stunted their ability to deploy efficiently.

Project Execution

To address these challenges, we proposed a comprehensive BDD hands-on workshop tailored to the company’s needs. Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) emphasizes collaboration between stakeholders to define and validate system behaviour using natural language specifications in the format of GIVEN, WHEN, and THEN statements. By introducing BDD principles and practices, we aimed to align the company’s teams, automate deployment processes, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Implementation

• Customized Workshop: We designed a bespoke BDD workshop tailored to the company’s domain, technologies, and organizational structure. The workshop comprised interactive sessions, role-specific, hands-on exercises, and real-world examples to ensure practical relevance and engagement.
• Collaborative Learning: We encouraged cross-functional participation, involving developers, testers, product owners, scrum masters and other stakeholders in the workshop. This collaborative approach promoted shared understanding and ownership of the BDD framework.
• Tool Integration: We introduced BDD tools and frameworks compatible with the company’s tech stack, such as Cucumber and SpecFlow. Integrating these tools enabled teams to automate acceptance criteria validation and promote a shift-left testing approach.

Benefit realisation

• Improved Collaboration: The workshop fostered greater collaboration and communication between teams, breaking down silos and promoting cross-functional alignment.
• Efficient Delivery: By automating acceptance testing with BDD, the company significantly reduced manual effort and shortened release cycles, enabling more frequent and more reliable delivery of features and updates.
• Increased Quality: BDD practices facilitated early identification and resolution of defects, leading to higher software quality and enhanced customer satisfaction.
• Cultural Transformation: The adoption of BDD supported a cultural shift towards a mindset of continuous improvement, innovation, and value delivery across the business unit and wider organisation.

Conclusion

Through our tailored BDD workshop, we empowered a leading FTSE100 data company to embrace modern software development practices and transition towards true CI/CD delivery. By fostering collaboration, automating delivery pipelines, and promoting a culture of continuous improvement, we helped the company unlock new levels of efficiency, agility, and innovation in its software delivery pipeline.

If you’re looking to accelerate your journey to CI/CD and empower your teams with BDD, get in touch with us today. Let’s embark on a transformational journey together!