Acceptance Criteria

Definition

Acceptance criteria are conditions that must be met for a Product Backlog Item to be accepted by stakeholders. Some teams use terms such as conditions of satisfaction, acceptance conditions, success criteria for a user story or backlog item, validation criteria, or fit criteria as synonyms that usually refer to the same concept.

Context

Acceptance criteria help teams clarify what success looks like for each Product Backlog Item. They reduce ambiguity, create a shared understanding of expectations, and help teams know when work is complete. This improves product quality and makes it easier to verify that a feature meets stakeholder needs.

Description

Acceptance criteria are often defined for Product Backlog Items such as User Stories. They provide clear, testable statements that describe how a feature must behave to be considered done - an example is provided below.

By formulating these criteria early and refining them during product backlog refinement sessions, teams can uncover misunderstandings and address them before development begins.

Well-written acceptance criteria follow the SMART mnemonic:

• Specific: clearly describe the expected behavior

• Measurable: the outcome can be verified

• Achievable: The team is capable of doing this

• Relevant: directly address the user’s need

• Time-bound: if applicable, define a time-related expectation

  Example

Consider the following User Story:

"As a bank customer consultant, I want to know whether a client has a positive credit rating so that I can decide whether to approve their loan request or not."

An acceptance criterion for this User Story could be, “The system displays the client credit rating with the date of last update and the data source, and the rating must be based on data not older than 30 days..”

This criterion is specific because it requires rating, date, and source to be shown, measurable because each element can be verified in the UI and logs, achievable because the team is capable of implementing it, relevant because it supports sound lending decisions, and time bound because it requires data not older than 30 days.

Common Misunderstandings

A common misconception is that acceptance criteria are the same as a Definition of Done. In reality, acceptance criteria apply to a single Product Backlog Item - one could say they are item specific - while the Definition of Done applies to all the Product Backlog Items the team delivers.

Want to Learn More?

Read the User Story article to understand how acceptance criteria complement this popular backlog item format. Explore the Product Backlog Refinement article to learn how acceptance criteria fit into refinement sessions.