Requirements & behavior · Discovery practice
Example Mapping
Explore a feature by separating rules, concrete examples, unanswered questions, and scope.
What it helps you do
Find important decisions before a requirement is mistaken for shared understanding.
Starting knowledge: No specialist knowledge is required.
- Start with one bounded story.
- For each rule, try concrete examples including a boundary or failure case.
- Keep unanswered questions visible instead of silently choosing an outcome.
The problem it came from
Matt Wynne introduced Example Mapping in a 2015 Cucumber article. The practice uses a simple visual arrangement to structure conversations about a story.
The original colored cards distinguish the story, rules, examples, and questions. A digital equivalent can preserve those roles without requiring particular colors or software.
Work through an example
Rule: canceling a confirmed registration releases one place.
Example: cancel once → release one place.
Example: submit the same cancellation again → release no extra place.
Question: does cancellation trigger an offer to the waitlist?
Out of scope: changing to another workshop.- The repeat request surfaces a hidden resource rule.
- The waitlist action remains unresolved.
- Moving a related feature out of scope prevents accidental implementation.
Where it helps. Where it stops.
Use it when
- Refining a feature with product, engineering, and domain participants.
- A short requirement sounds clear until someone proposes an exception.
Potential benefits
- Concrete cases reveal missing decisions early.
- Separating questions from rules avoids presenting guesses as approved policy.
Limits and common mistakes
- A well-organized board does not create stakeholder agreement.
- An example set can remain incomplete; deliberately look for conflicting and boundary cases.
The prompt below asks for this structure. It does not guarantee accuracy, complete coverage, better learning, or conformance to a standard. Treat those outcomes as separate checks.
Practise the judgment
Try a choice, inspect a boundary, then explain a case yourself. Hints and answers are available whenever you need them.
The team does not know whether an expired offer can be renewed. Where should it go?
Hint
Unknown behavior is not an implicit default.
Explained answer
Best answer for this case: An unanswered question
The map should preserve uncertainty until someone with authority resolves it.
What most directly improves “users can cancel”?
Hint
Try a concrete interaction rather than another adjective.
Explained answer
Best answer for this case: A case where cancellation is repeated
A repeat case exposes whether resource effects can occur twice.
Map a workshop waitlist question into one rule, example, and open question.
Hint
Do not invent a timeout to fill the gap.
Explained answer & self-review rubric
Rule: a full workshop puts a valid new registration on the waitlist. Example: with zero places, a new valid registration is waitlisted and consumes no place. Question: how long does an offer remain valid after a place opens?
- Separate the rule and case
- Include resource effects
- Keep the unapproved duration open
Take it into your own work
Manual template
Use this structure yourself, with a colleague, or in your preferred writing tool.
# Example map
Story and boundary:
Rule:
Normal example:
Boundary example:
Failure or repeat example:
Unanswered questions:
Separate stories / out of scope:
Decisions confirmed by:
Review the result
- Are questions visually distinct from rules?
- Is there a repeat or boundary case?
- Who has confirmed the expected outcomes?
Use this approach with your own AI tool
Help me apply Example Mapping to the material below.
Reader and existing knowledge: [describe]
Task and desired outcome: [describe]
Use these principles: Start with one bounded story.; For each rule, try concrete examples including a boundary or failure case.; Keep unanswered questions visible instead of silently choosing an outcome..
Preserve source facts, identifiers, quantities, conditions, exceptions, and uncertainty.
Separate supplied facts from assumptions. Ask for missing information instead of inventing it.
Explain your representation choices and provide a review checklist. Do not claim formal compliance or correctness from formatting alone.
Material: [paste only information you are permitted to share]Go to the source
History and the underlying approach are grounded in these references. Examples, prompts, and practice cases here are original educational adaptations. Edition-specific details should be checked against the referenced publication.
Last editorial review: 2026-10-24. An overview is not certification, and this guide is not a reproduction of a standard.