In agile, Big Design Up Front (BDUF) is something to be avoided, but that doesn’t mean we don’t do any design at all. Before starting to code with TDD it really helps to spend a few minutes on Little Design Up Front. Part of that is making a list of test cases we will work on.
Ask people to review these options. Ask them to choose an option and read the consequences.
Before writing your first test, you should do a little analysis and identify scenarios that you’ll want to make into test cases. Remind people of the test lists you used for previous katas you did in other sessions. When you have reviewed two or three test lists, ask them what the characteristics are for a good test list. You’re looking for things like:
Write these characteristics up on a whiteboard.
Ask them to work in pairs to come up with a test list.
Synthesize all the suggestions into a single list. Perhaps use dot voting to choose the top 3 suggestions out of all the lists. With that as a starting point, ask people to take turns to suggest one improvement or addition to the list.
Repeat with a second problem if there is time, for example Fractions or MontyHall.