Acceptance Criteria

Acceptance criteria solve the problem of unclear completion. They make expectations explicit so engineers, product owners, designers, and stakeholders can agree on what “done” means.

Where it fits

Acceptance criteria belong in software management and requirements planning. They connect product intent to implementation and testing.

Motivation

Without acceptance criteria, teams can ship work that technically exists but does not satisfy the actual need. Clear criteria reduce rework and make testing more objective.

Example

For a login feature, acceptance criteria might say that users can reset a password by email, expired reset links are rejected, and errors do not reveal whether an account exists.

Common mistakes

• Writing vague criteria like “works correctly.”
• Mixing implementation details with user-visible behavior too early.
• Forgetting non-functional expectations such as latency, security, or accessibility.

Related concepts

• Functional Requirement
• Non-Functional Requirement
• Agile