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Practices

Acceptance Criteria

Common Practice Practice

Conditions that a Product Backlog item must satisfy to be accepted.

Plain English explanation

Acceptance Criteria describe what must be true for a piece of work to be considered complete from a user or business perspective. They make expectations clear.

Why it matters

They remove ambiguity and ensure everyone agrees on what done means for a specific item.

How it works

Each backlog item includes Acceptance Criteria that define expected behavior or outcomes.

Example

A login feature might include criteria like 'user can log in with valid credentials' and 'error shown for invalid login'.

Common myths

Acceptance Criteria are not the same as Definition of Done. They apply to individual items, not overall quality.

Key points

  • Define expected outcomes
  • Clarify requirements
  • Apply to individual items
  • Support shared understanding

Learning note

This is a common Agile/Scrum-related term or practice included to help learners understand language often used around Scrum.

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