ThoughtWorks Studios today released Twist 2.0, the newest version of its automated testing software, with new features to support the behavior-driven development agile technique for broad collaboration in an organization.

Twist 2.0 lets users create test specifications from plain English requirements, keeping developers and the business side communicating and shortening the feedback loop between them, according to Clint Sprauve, who works in product strategy for ThoughtWorks Studios. This helps to ensure the software adheres to the needs of the business as it is developed. “Behavior-driven development is our focus,” he said. “It bridges the gaps of testers, business stakeholders and developers. It keeps everyone on the same page.”

New features in the testing software include the ability to execute manual and automated tests to be executed in the same scenario; support for the Groovy scripting language for Java; the ability to use Sahi for Web testing, along with the already-supported Selenium; support for Java SWT; and data-driven test scenarios that broaden coverage of the code through the use of different data sets that can be created on the fly, Sprauve said.

Twist, along with Cruise (release management) and Mingle (agile project management), complete the company’s “adaptive ALM” tool suite. Managing director Cyndi Mitchell defines agile as the ability to adapt to change. “Tools must adapt to how teams work, to capture information about what the team is doing, and to provide real-time information into how they’re working,” she said.