The Persistent Problem
Throughout 8 years in software development, I've encountered a persistent problem: poorly specified tasks. Use cases are frequently overlooked by product owners, and critical details only surface during testing — or worse, after users interact with the application.
This changed when I worked with a product owner who used Gherkin for specifications.
The Difference
Gherkin forced shared responsibility. Instead of vague user stories that leave edge cases to the developer's imagination, we had concrete scenarios that both the PO and developer agreed on upfront.
A Practical Example: Coupon Redemption
The vague user story:
"As a user, I should be able to redeem a discount coupon at checkout."
A test based on this might look like:
One test. One happy path. What about expired coupons? Invalid codes? Already-used coupons?
The Gherkin specification forces you to think:
The corresponding tests:
The Takeaway
The tool isn't magic — Gherkin is just a format. What matters is the practice of explicitly defining scenarios before writing code. It surfaces edge cases early, aligns expectations between product and engineering, and results in more comprehensive test coverage.
The best bugs are the ones you find before writing the first line of code.