acceptance-criteria

Acceptance Criteria

Overview

Acceptance criteria define when a story is "done." They're the shared understanding between product, engineering, and QA of what must be true for the feature to be accepted. Well-written criteria prevent ambiguity and reduce rework. This skill teaches the Given/When/Then format from Behavior-Driven Development (BDD).

When to Use

• Writing or reviewing user stories
• Defining scope for a sprint or release
• Handing off requirements to QA
• Creating a Definition of Done for your team
• Don't use for: non-functional requirements (performance, security — separate criteria), exploratory work, or creative tasks

Instructions

1. Use Given/When/Then Format

Scenario: [Title describing the scenario]
Given [context / preconditions]
When [action / event]
Then [expected outcome]

Given sets up the context — what state must exist before the action. When describes the trigger — what the user does or what happens. Then describes the expected result — what should be observable.

2. Follow Best Practices

• One scenario per behavior — Don't test multiple things in one scenario
• Use concrete examples — "Given user has 3 active projects" not "Given user has projects"
• Be deterministic — Same inputs always produce same results
• Focus on outcomes, not implementation — THEN describes what happens, not how
• Include edge cases — Empty states, error states, permission boundaries

3. Use AND/OR for Combinations

Scenario: Admin approves a team member's invitation
  Given the admin is logged in
    And there is a pending invitation for [email protected]
  When the admin clicks "Approve"
  Then the invitation status changes to "Active"
    And the user receives a welcome email

4. Write Rule-Oriented Criteria

For features with many variations, write rule-oriented criteria:

Rule: Team members can see projects based on their role

Scenario: Owner can see all projects
  Given I am the team owner
  When I open the dashboard
  Then I see all projects in the team

Scenario: Member can only see assigned projects
  Given I am a team member
  And I am assigned to projects A and B
  When I open the dashboard
  Then I see projects A and B
    And I do NOT see project C