How do you deal with feature file duplication or overlap in BDD?

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) is a collaborative approach to software development that focuses on defining and validating the expected behavior of a system using plain language scenarios. These scenarios are written in feature files, which are the main source of documentation and automation for BDD. However, feature files can also become a source of confusion and maintenance overhead if they are not well-organized and consistent. In this article, you will learn how to deal with feature file duplication or overlap in BDD and how to ensure that your feature files provide adequate code coverage.

1 What is feature file duplication or overlap?

Feature file duplication or overlap occurs when two or more feature files contain similar or identical scenarios, steps, or examples. This can be due to a lack of communication among different teams or stakeholders working on the same features, unclear boundaries of scope for each feature, lack of reuse of existing feature files, or a lack of standardization in the language, format, or style of the feature files. Such duplication can have negative consequences such as increased complexity and ambiguity of the feature files, reduced readability and understandability, increased risk of inconsistencies or contradictions among the feature files, increased effort and time required to update or modify them, and reduced code coverage or quality of the automated tests derived from them.

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Bhargavi Verma

107x Top Voice🏅(In Top1% - 94 Domains) | Project & IT Management | Business Analysis | Content & Technical Writing | Co-Author of 40+ Books | Google Certified-Data Analytics | MBA - Operations @IGNOU | MCA @MUJ
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Feature file duplication or overlap refers to the presence of similar or identical scenarios, steps, or examples across multiple feature files. This can occur due to various reasons such as lack of communication among teams, unclear scope boundaries, or insufficient reuse of existing files. It can lead to increased complexity, reduced readability, and inconsistencies among files, ultimately affecting the quality of automated tests derived from them.

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Daniel Khoshbayan

Founder & CEO | +11 years of experience as a C# & .Net developer
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In my experience, feature file duplication or overlap can be a common challenge in software development projects. One time at work, our team encountered a situation where two different teams were working on similar features, which resulted in similar or identical scenarios, steps, or examples in their respective feature files. This duplication not only led to confusion and ambiguity but also created additional work for the teams involved, as they had to spend more time and effort updating and maintaining multiple feature files with similar content.

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2 How to avoid feature file duplication or overlap?

To prevent feature file duplication or overlap, a proactive and collaborative approach is necessary. This should include establishing and following a clear naming convention, structure, and style for the feature files, scenarios, steps, and examples. Additionally, tags, folders, or subfolders should be used to categorize and organize the feature files according to their domain, functionality, priority, or status. Regular reviews and audits of the feature files should also be conducted to identify any duplication or overlap. Furthermore, tools or techniques such as dependency analysis, impact analysis, or code coverage analysis can be utilized to detect and measure any duplication or overlap. Finally, existing feature files or step definitions can be reused or shared across different features or user stories using hooks, libraries, or frameworks in order to refactor or merge any duplicated or overlapping feature files or scenarios.

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Daniel Khoshbayan

Founder & CEO | +11 years of experience as a C# & .Net developer
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In my experience, avoiding feature file duplication or overlap requires a combination of proper organization, collaboration, and effective use of available tools and techniques. One thing I've found helpful is establishing and following a clear naming convention, structure, and style for feature files, scenarios, steps, and examples. This not only helps maintain consistency but also makes it easier to identify any potential duplication. Organizing feature files into categories using tags, folders, or subfolders based on their domain, functionality, priority, or status is another helpful strategy. This approach helps keep feature files well-organized and makes it easier to identify any overlapping content.

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Bhargavi Verma

107x Top Voice🏅(In Top1% - 94 Domains) | Project & IT Management | Business Analysis | Content & Technical Writing | Co-Author of 40+ Books | Google Certified-Data Analytics | MBA - Operations @IGNOU | MCA @MUJ
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To avoid feature file duplication or overlap:- - Establish clear naming conventions and structure for feature files, use tags or folders for organization, conduct regular reviews, and utilize tools for analysis. - Reuse existing feature files or step definitions when possible to prevent duplication.

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3 How to ensure feature file code coverage?

Feature file code coverage is an important indicator of the quality and completeness of the feature files and the automated tests derived from them. To ensure coverage, you need to consider criteria such as scenario coverage, step coverage, example coverage, branch coverage, condition coverage, or mutation coverage. Additionally, you should use tools like Cucumber, SpecFlow, Behat, or Serenity that provide built-in or integrated coverage features or plugins. Furthermore, you should set goals or thresholds for the feature file coverage and identify any gaps or areas that are not covered by the feature files. By following these steps, you can ensure that your feature files provide adequate code coverage and reflect the true behavior and expectations of the system under test.

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Bhargavi Verma

107x Top Voice🏅(In Top1% - 94 Domains) | Project & IT Management | Business Analysis | Content & Technical Writing | Co-Author of 40+ Books | Google Certified-Data Analytics | MBA - Operations @IGNOU | MCA @MUJ
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Ensuring feature file code coverage involves assessing how well your feature files and their associated automated tests cover different aspects of your application. This includes checking if all scenarios, steps, and examples are accounted for, as well as examining how thoroughly different conditions and branches are tested. To achieve this, you can use tools like Cucumber, SpecFlow, Behat, or Serenity, which offer features or plugins for measuring coverage. By setting specific coverage goals and regularly reviewing your coverage reports, you can identify areas that need improvement and ensure that your tests accurately reflect the behavior of your application.

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4 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Tatyana Velikanova

QA Lead at PVH Corp.
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In my experience, if BDD is used in test automation framework, then test automation team should keep an eye on steps and keep it as flexible as possible. Most useful hacks are: - you don't have to use same name of step in test automation framework (TAF) as it is written by business users in the scenario. For example, "Given I'm a registered user on the My Account page" in TAF can be translated into: "Given I'm logged in as a user with *emailID* and *password*" "And I navigate to *My Account* page". Those two suggested steps might be already implemented and can be reused in other scenarios. - one centralized library with steps can help business users to write scenarios following the common format.

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How do you deal with feature file duplication or overlap in BDD?

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1 What is feature file duplication or overlap?

2 How to avoid feature file duplication or overlap?

3 How to ensure feature file code coverage?

4 Here’s what else to consider

Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)

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