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Agilemania, a small group of passionate Lean-Agile-DevOps consultants and trainers, is the most tru... Read more
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If there’s a topic that has been discussed in online forums since time immemorial, it has to be Acceptance Criteria. While there is a lot of buzz around the term, a lot of organizations face trouble when writing the acceptance criteria. This throws the development team off balance.
The result? Shoddy product increments. If you’re looking to learn about acceptance criteria, their purpose, types, format, and more — then this blog post with real-life acceptance criteria examples and user story templates will be your guide.
Acceptance Criteria is the set of predefined conditions that must be fulfilled to ensure that the user story is complete. So, what is the user story? In the simplest terms, a User Story is a way of expressing requirements from the perspective of the user of the product or system, or software.
A User Story follows 3C’s – Card, Conversation, and Confirmation. In addition, it is often helpful to have six attributes defined by the acronym INVEST – Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, and Testable, to be part of a user story.
If you want to learn how to write good user stories, then you must read our guide to 10 tips to write great user stories – from the elements of a user story to its types and characteristics, it has it all.
We know that by just learning what the acceptance criteria and user story is, it won’t be enough until you learn the importance of writing it and how to write one. Let’s learn with good acceptance criteria examples to have better clarity.
As A “Registered User”
I WANT TO “Search for books by author’s name”
SO THAT “I can find and buy books by my favorite author”
Empower your team! Become a Scrum Master and facilitate the process by identifying potential ambiguities in criteria, clarifying their purpose, and encouraging developers to voice concerns about unclear criteria.
Become a Scrum MasterA well-articulated acceptance criterion removes ambiguity about the functionality to be built. The development team will be clear about the client requirements and what the final deliverable should look like. Writing acceptance criteria helps us to: -
We won’t let you wonder if you have written the acceptance criteria correctly or not, therefore, we will show you what a good acceptance criteria looks like.
An Acceptance Criterion is potent if it possesses the following characteristics-
As promised, we will provide you with acceptance criteria templates to help you write the best one.
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Scrum Master Learning PathAcceptance Criteria can be written in two formats-
1. Scenario-oriented acceptance criteria (Given/When/Then): Scenario-oriented acceptance criteria is a type that describes the same in the form of a scenario. It follows the Given/When/Then) approach which is as follows-
This approach is borrowed from Behavior Driven-Development (BDD) where testers are provided with a concrete structure that prescribes when to start and end testing a particular functionality. It also minimizes the time that is spent on writing the test cases.
Acceptance Criteria example (scenario-oriented):
“As a website user, I want to be able to search on the webpage So that I can find necessary information.”
Scenario: User searches for an item by its name
Given that I’m in the role of a registered or guest user
When I open the “Products” page
Then the system shows me the list of all products
And the system shows the “Search” section in the right top corner of the screen
When I fill in the “Search” field with the name of an existing item in the product list
And I click the “Apply” button OR press the Enter key on the keyboard
Then the system shows products in the Search Results section with product names matching entered product name
And the system shows the number of search results at the top of the Search Results section”
2. Rule-oriented Acceptance Criteria: The Rule oriented acceptance criteria contain a set of rules that narrate the behavior of a system. This type of acceptance criteria is suitable when-
Acceptance Criteria example (rule-oriented): As a user, I want to use a search field to type a brand, size, or cost, so that I could find results for matching shoes
We are quite sure that now you are at a better place than before with our acceptance criteria examples. If you want to learn the best practices of writing acceptance criteria, make sure you stick with us until the end.
The Product Owner is responsible for writing the acceptance criteria with the entire cross-functional team chipping with their contributions. The acceptance criteria should be written from the end-user's perspective. The development team should be involved since they will be able to define acceptance criteria addressing the customers' needs.
Involving the development team can help the Product Owner communicate the product vision and roadmap to them. Second, it helps the developers identify dependencies that might have slipped from the radar. Now that you know that the product owner is responsible for writing acceptance criteria, it is also important when they should write one.
While there is no hard and fast rule as to when the acceptance criteria should be written, it is ideal to write it before the development starts. A common practice used by product owners and product managers is to write the acceptance criteria during backlog refinement events.
This is later discussed in the sprint planning meeting with the development team and modified as per their feedback. One mistake that teams should avoid committing is writing the acceptance criteria way early. Since reprioritizing is an agile practice, you reprioritize user stories from sprint to sprint.
While Acceptance Criteria has a fair share of benefits, there are a few limitations that weaken its stance. Here are a few common downsides of acceptance criteria-
Now that we are well aware of what acceptance criteria are, what their importance is, their types, and so much more — it’s time to learn the best practices for writing acceptance criteria.
Take advantage of our Scrum Master assessment designed to help you score high and advance in your career. Gain valuable insights and skills necessary to succeed in the role.
Take the test!As we conclude the blog post, here are the key takeaways-
So, what were your learnings? If you need help with writing captivating acceptance criteria, then we’re right here to help.
Agilemania, a small group of passionate Lean-Agile-DevOps consultants and trainers, is the most trusted brand for digital transformations in South and South-East Asia.
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For a detailed enquiry, please write to us at connect@agilemania.com