What's in an acceptance criteria?

A user story’s goal can be met in different ways similar to how a problem can be solved in real life in many ways if constraints, context, and other inputs are not taken into consideration. The most effective way of solving the user's problem or meeting the user's need is captured using acceptance criteria. Acceptance criteria capture a feature behavior in detail from user-perspective

1. It helps the scrum team understand what to develop to mark the story as DONE. This minimizes the opportunity for scope creep where the requirements that need to be developed increase mid-sprint thereby affecting both sprint velocity and team’s ability to deliver on the sprint goal
2. Similarly, the acceptance criteria are used by the QA team to confirm whether what has been developed is working as expected
3. The details captured using acceptance criteria are helpful during sprint planning for the team in determining ‘how to deliver’ the user story and story points estimation
   In summary, acceptance criteria when captured well helps the PM create alignment with internal stakeholders, customers, and scrum teams on how to solve the user's problem or meet their needs.