INVEST Criteria

Use INVEST to evaluate story and acceptance-criteria quality.

INVEST

• Independent: can be delivered without unrelated blockers.
• Negotiable: leaves room for implementation choices.
• Valuable: maps to user/business value.
• Estimable: clear enough to size confidently.
• Small: scoped for one iteration.
• Testable: acceptance checks are objective.

Practical Check

For each criterion, ask:

• Is it observable?
• Is pass/fail unambiguous?
• Does it describe user outcome?