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Difficulty of Objective Acceptance Criteria

publish date: 2026/06/19 10:34:32.841624 UTC

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Establishing completely objective acceptance criteria is described as difficult in practice. Why?

Regulatory bodies prohibit objective criteria to allow flexibility in contract negotiations

Customers are generally unable to articulate their requirements clearly

Objective criteria require formal mathematical proofs that are too expensive

There is often scope for argument about whether a specific test shows that a criterion has been met

Correct Answer

There is often scope for argument about whether a specific test shows that a criterion has been met

Explanation

Even well-written criteria can be ambiguous when test results are interpreted. For example, a criterion of '90% of all error messages must be issued within 1 second' leaves open questions about how 'error message' is defined and which test scenarios count. This ambiguity creates scope for disagreement between developers and customers about whether criteria have been satisfied.

Reference

Software Engineering, Ian Sommerville, 10th edition

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Acceptance Testing Process