Writing User Stories With Gherkin

Feb 02, 2022

As a PM, the benefits of using Gherkin are Gherkin

Originally intended for developers, Gherkin is a structured approach to writing behavioral tests, also called Behavior Driven Development (BDD). Instead of testing little bits of code, behavioral tests seek to follow true user workflow, such as signing in, or applying for a refund. This means a focus on how users interact with your system.

Gherkin is the perfect framework for writing user stories because it gives a consistent approach for reviewing all scenarios, defines the definition of Done, and provides crisp acceptance criteria.

Benefits of using Gherkin are:

• You’ll catch missing workflows before any work is started.
• It’s a direct correlation to the user workflows that you and Design have developed.
• Developers know when the story is Done because they have clear acceptance criteria. QA and PM too!
• A consistent language across stories helps the team focus on delivering user value, unhindered by your writing style that day.

Feature: As a user I want to sign in so I can see my marketing campaigns

Scenario: User supplies correct user name and password
Given that I am on the sign-in page
When I enter my user name and password correctly
And click ‘Sign In’
Then I am taken to the dashboard

Scenario: User does NOT supply correct user name and password
Given that I am on the sign-in page
When I enter my user name and password incorrectly
and click ‘Sign In’
Then I see an error message ‘Sorry, incorrect user name or password.”

What happened there?

Gherkin follows a very specific syntax:

Scenario -> Given -> When -> Then

1. Scenarios: All the actions a user could take (including bad input)
2. GIVEN: Sets the context. What page are we on and what state are we in? Is the user an admin? Signed-in? Has created a campaign?
3. WHEN: What actions the user is performing. What event occurred?
4. THEN: What should the system do in response? What is the expected outcome?

Feature: Payments with Visa Classic
As a Visa Classic Cardholder, 
I want to use my Visa Card, 
For paying my purchases.

Scenario: The Visa Cardholder use the Visa Classic for paying
    Given I am a Visa Classic Cardholder
    When I pay with my Visa Classic
    Then My Visa card is accepted

Multiple conditions can be concatenated with the AND keyword. For instance:

Given I am a Miles&More Fidelity Card holder,
And I Am a Premium Bank Customer 
When I transfer money to my account
Then I also receive 100 points on my Miles&More Card

Multiple scenarios for a single feature are allowed, they can be expressed in a more concisely format with Scenario Outlines and data tables, for instance:

# Two scenarios for the same feature

Feature: Bank account calculation 
As A bank customer,
I want the balance of my account correctly calculated
To be certain of my financial sistuation

  Scenario: 1) bank account in-flow calculation
    Given the starting balance has 4000 Euro
    When 3000 euros are added to the account
    Then the final balance is 7000 euro     


  Scenario: 2) bank account out-flow calculation
    Given the starting balance has 4000 Euro
    When 3000 euros are transferred to another account
    Then the final balance is 1000 euro    

# Here we use a scenario outline to include the 
# two previous scenarios into a single one

Scenario Outline: bank account cash flow calculations
  Given the starting balance has  euros
  When  is trasferred
  Then I should have  euros
    | start   | trasferred | left |
    | 4000    | +3000      | 7000 |
    | 4000    | -3000      | 1000 |