Acceptance criteria writing

Acceptance criteria define when a story is truly done. They prevent scope creep and eliminate guesswork. Clear criteria save countless hours of rework and confusion. Write criteria as specific, testable conditions. Use formats like "Given [context], when [action], then [result]." This approach creates scenarios anyone can verify. Each criterion should be binary; it either passes or fails.

ChatGPT helps identify edge cases and missing requirements. Share your user story and ask for comprehensive acceptance criteria. Request both happy path scenarios and error conditions. For instance: "For the user story 'As a customer, I want to filter products by price range,' write acceptance criteria covering normal use, edge cases, and error scenarios."

Keep criteria focused on behavior, not implementation. Describe what users can do, not how the code works. Aim for 3-7 criteria per story. Too few means incomplete requirements; too many suggests your story needs splitting.