Definition: Acceptance test driven development (ATDD) is a practice where the business, developers and testers agree acceptance tests for a user story before it's built. The tests are usually automated, so when they pass, the feature is treated as functionally acceptable to the business. Tools such as Cucumber link the plain-language tests to the system under test.
So what? ATDD improves communication between the business and development teams, focuses developers on what matters and leaves behind tests that become regression checks. It takes real up-front effort, but the payback can come quickly.
Examples: Writing an acceptance test with the product owner for a new payment feature before any code is written. Using a framework to turn agreed acceptance criteria into automated tests that run through the UI or service calls.
