If you’re struggling with acceptance criteria, then you’re probably struggling with user stories too. High-quality acceptance criteria make it so much easier to create and analyze user stories, which leads to better requirements and solutions that delight end users.
Here are a few best practices for acceptance criteria:
- Include scenarios, rules and variations of the user experience
- Include non-functional requirements
- Discuss the criteria using plain, simple language.
- Keep it detailed, but without specifying screens, buttons, and fields.
Here’s an example: Given I have items in my cart, when I select to purchase an item and select to checkout, then I am shown the shipping options and asked to select which I would like.
Notice this doesn’t label any fields, screens or buttons. The screen and button details should come out in your active collaboration and feedback loops during the sprint.
If your team needs to build better acceptance criteria, Angela’s live 2-hour online bite-size training session would be the perfect start!