acceptance-criteria-authoring

Acceptance Criteria Authoring

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

Acceptance Criteria Authoring tasks - Working on write clear, testable acceptance criteria in given-when-then format following invest principles and bdd best practices
Planning or design - Need guidance on Acceptance Criteria Authoring approaches
Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards

Overview

Acceptance criteria define the conditions that must be met for a user story to be considered complete. Well-written acceptance criteria enable clear communication between stakeholders and drive automated acceptance tests.

Given-When-Then Format

Given [precondition/context] When [action/event] Then [expected outcome]

Components

Component Purpose Example

Given Set up initial context "Given a logged-in premium user"

When Trigger action/event "When they click 'Download Report'"

Then Assert expected outcome "Then a PDF report downloads"

And Chain multiple conditions "And the report includes all orders"

But Negative assertion "But archived orders are excluded"

INVEST Principles for User Stories

Letter Principle Description

I Independent Can be developed in any order

N Negotiable Details can be discussed

V Valuable Delivers user/business value

E Estimable Can be sized by team

S Small Fits in one sprint

T Testable Has clear acceptance criteria

Acceptance Criteria Best Practices

Do ✅

Use business language, not technical jargon
Be specific and measurable
Include happy path and edge cases
Keep scenarios focused and atomic
Write from user perspective
Include error scenarios

Don't ❌

Include implementation details
Make criteria too broad
Use ambiguous terms ("fast", "user-friendly")
Combine multiple behaviors in one scenario
Skip error handling scenarios

Example: E-commerce Checkout

User Story

As a registered customer I want to checkout with a saved payment method So that I can complete purchases quickly

Acceptance Criteria

Feature: Checkout with Saved Payment

Background: Given I am logged in as a registered customer And I have a saved Visa card ending in 4242

Scenario: Successful checkout with saved card Given I have items in my cart totaling $50.00 When I proceed to checkout And I select my saved Visa card And I click "Place Order" Then I see an order confirmation page And I receive a confirmation email And my card is charged $50.00

Scenario: Checkout with expired saved card Given my saved card has expired And I have items in my cart When I proceed to checkout And I select my expired card Then I see a message "This card has expired" And I am prompted to update the card or add a new one

Scenario: Checkout when card is declined Given I have items in my cart When I proceed to checkout And I select my saved card And I click "Place Order" And the payment is declined Then I see a message "Payment declined. Please try another payment method." And the order is not created And my cart is preserved

Scenario: Checkout with insufficient inventory Given I have 3 units of "Widget X" in my cart And only 2 units are in stock When I proceed to checkout Then I see a message "Widget X: Only 2 available" And I am prompted to update quantity

Scenario Patterns

Happy Path

Scenario: User successfully [action] Given [valid preconditions] When [correct action] Then [expected positive outcome]

Error Handling

Scenario: [Action] fails due to [reason] Given [preconditions that lead to failure] When [action that will fail] Then [appropriate error message] And [system state is preserved/recovered]

Edge Cases

Scenario: [Action] with boundary condition Given [boundary condition setup] When [action at boundary] Then [expected behavior at boundary]

Security

Scenario: Unauthorized user attempts [action] Given I am not logged in When I try to access [protected resource] Then I am redirected to login page And I see "Please log in to continue"

Scenario Outlines

Use for testing multiple data variations:

Scenario Outline: Discount applied based on order value Given I have items in my cart totaling <order_total> When I proceed to checkout Then I see a discount of <discount> And my final total is <final_total>

Examples: | order_total | discount | final_total | | $50.00 | $0.00 | $50.00 | | $100.00 | $5.00 | $95.00 | | $200.00 | $20.00 | $180.00 |

.NET SpecFlow Example

[Binding] public class CheckoutSteps { private readonly CheckoutContext _context;

public CheckoutSteps(CheckoutContext context)
{
    _context = context;
}

[Given(@"I am logged in as a registered customer")]
public void GivenIAmLoggedInAsARegisteredCustomer()
{
    _context.Customer = TestCustomers.CreateRegistered();
    _context.Session = _context.AuthService.Login(_context.Customer);
}

[Given(@"I have items in my cart totaling \$(.*)")]
public void GivenIHaveItemsInMyCartTotaling(decimal total)
{
    _context.Cart = TestCart.WithTotal(total);
}

[When(@"I click ""(.*)""")]
public void WhenIClick(string button)
{
    _context.Result = _context.CheckoutPage.Click(button);
}

[Then(@"I see an order confirmation page")]
public void ThenISeeAnOrderConfirmationPage()
{
    Assert.IsType&#x3C;OrderConfirmationPage>(_context.Result);
}

[Then(@"I receive a confirmation email")]
public void ThenIReceiveAConfirmationEmail()
{
    var emails = _context.EmailService.GetEmailsFor(_context.Customer.Email);
    Assert.Contains(emails, e => e.Subject.Contains("Order Confirmation"));
}

}

Coverage Checklist

For each user story, ensure coverage of:

Happy path: Main success scenario
Validation errors: Invalid input handling
Business rule violations: Domain constraint failures
Authorization failures: Access control
External service failures: Third-party integration errors
Boundary conditions: Min/max values, empty states
Concurrency: Multiple users, race conditions
State transitions: Valid and invalid state changes

Acceptance Criteria Template

User Story

As a [role] I want to [action] So that [benefit]