Someone is wrong on the internet!

Unfortunately, this time is it me. I wrote about the differences between how I perceive TDD and BDD. Unfortunately, I didn't do my research. Instead I based my understanding on hearsay and assumptions. I knew that Dan North had coined the term and I should have looked for his easy to find blog post.

Instead, I got most of my knowledge of BDD from discussions at local user groups. This almost always took the form of "Tool A is a TDD tool while Tool B is a BDD tool." Because I found this to be a fairly uninteresting distinction, through the course of several discussions, I effectively invented a definition of BDD that I found more valuable to me and my team than "using Tool B means we are a BDD shop."

When I saw a discussion of the topic on Twitter, I interjected myself and asked for clarification. Luckily, I asked good netizens (Avdi Grimm, Angela Harms) rather than trolls and I got some helpful advice.

So, I was able to learn a valuable lesson this weekend: do your research. It's easy these days and can help you contribute to the conversation rather than detract.

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