Acceptance Test

Definition

Acceptance tests verify that acceptance criteria have been met and that the product or feature works as expected.

Context

Acceptance tests help agile teams confirm that delivered functionality meets stakeholder expectations. They create fast feedback loops, uncover issues early, and build confidence in product quality. Automated acceptance tests speed up agile development by reducing manual testing effort and improving reliability. For subjective criteria, this is not possible. If the acceptance criteria are objective, it makes sense to automate so that the developers have certainty that changing the product did not break existing functionality.

Description

While acceptance criteria define the conditions for success, acceptance tests are the steps used to check those conditions in the product. They may be written before or during development and, when automated, can be run repeatedly without extra effort. Acceptance tests are an essential part of quality practices, ensuring every Product Backlog Item meets expectations before release. Acceptance criteria and acceptance testing are useful in any approach, including Waterfall. In Waterfall, they are often applied at the end, sometimes as User Acceptance Tests (UAT) which delays learning. In agile, they happen every Sprint, so teams learn sooner if rework is needed, which is usually cheaper.

Example

In a shopping app, the acceptance criterion might be "can add items to the cart and see the updated total."

An acceptance test could involve:

1. Opening the app and navigating to a product

2. Adding the product to the cart

3. Verifying that the cart total updates correctly

Common Misunderstandings

A frequent misunderstanding is that acceptance tests are only the responsibility of testers. In agile teams, everyone should collaborate to define, conduct, and if possible automate these tests.

Want to Learn More?

Read the Acceptance Criteria article to understand how acceptance tests build on clearly defined conditions. If you are keen to learn more about it from a technical perspective, read look at the video from Dave Farley below.