Acceptance Test-driven Development
Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD) is a collaborative development approach where acceptance tests are created before implementation begins.
“A collaboration-based test-first approach that defines acceptance tests in the stakeholders' domain language.”
(Definition reproduced from the ISTQB Glossary. Copyright belongs to ISTQB.)
View the complete ISTQB GlossaryWhat is Acceptance Test-driven Development?
ATDD encourages developers, testers, and business representatives to define acceptance tests together before coding starts. These tests guide development and ensure that business expectations are clearly understood.
Collaboration: Business, development, and testing work together from the beginning.
Workflow: Acceptance tests are written first, followed by implementation until the tests pass.
Benefits: ATDD reduces misunderstandings and encourages shared ownership of quality.
Real World Example
A healthcare scheduling team is building a feature that lets patients book follow-up appointments after a consultation.
Developers, testers, clinicians, and product owners may all believe they understand the request while imagining different rules. Acceptance test-driven development gives the team a shared way to confirm intent.
The tester turns clinical and business expectations into concrete examples, such as eligible appointment windows, unavailable doctors, and messages shown when no slot is open.
The team prevents late rework because Acceptance test-driven development makes expected behavior testable before the feature is treated as finished.
Practice Questions
Question 1
Which practice BEST distinguishes ATDD from TDD?
Question 2
A team writes acceptance tests collaboratively with the product owner before coding begins. The tests use business terminology and are reviewed by all stakeholders. Which approach does this describe?
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