Monitor project output

Regularly test and measure the features your team produces, involving real users as much as possible.

Accurately representing the needs and responses of real-life users is a key part of the product owner's role.
  1. Schedule acceptance meetings throughout the iteration, either at regular intervals or whenever a given user story is completed. Use the latest working build of the product, and exercise the functionality live.
  2. Test that the functionality implemented matches what is specified in the user story. Also review the user interface and user documentation associated with the user story, if any.
  3. Enter any issues in the artifact's Comments field.
  4. Update the user story artifact to reflect the outcome.
    • If a user story is accepted, change the artifact status to "Accepted" or the equivalent.
    • If a user story is not accepted, change the artifact status back to "In Development," or the equivalent, for further work. You can review it again in another acceptance meeting.
Note: Sometimes a feature turns out not to meet the user's needs even though it has been implemented as specified. This is normal. It is not uncommon for the user's needs to change after the user story has been captured, or for the user research process to miss one or more important details. Just note the discrepancy in the user story and route the artifact back into the appropriate part of the process.