What is Entry and Exit Criteria?

Entry criteria are the conditions that must be met before a testing phase can begin; exit criteria are the conditions that must be met before it can be considered complete and the team can move on.

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IN DEPTH

In depth.

Entry and exit criteria turn "are we ready?" and "are we done?" from opinions into agreed checklists. Entry criteria for a system test phase might be: the build is deployed to the test environment, smoke tests pass, test data is ready, and the test cases are reviewed. Without them, teams burn time testing a broken or incomplete build.

Exit criteria define done for the phase: planned tests executed, a pass-rate threshold met, no open Blocker or Critical defects, and remaining issues triaged and accepted. They are the basis of a quality gate and a go/no-go release decision. Crucially, exit criteria are rarely "zero bugs", they are about acceptable risk: known low-severity issues can be documented and shipped.

The interview nuance is that good criteria are objective and agreed up front, not invented at the end to justify a date. Tying exit criteria to risk rather than an impossible bug count is the mature view.

WHY IT MATTERS

Why interviewers ask about this.

This connects to the classic "when do you stop testing?" interview question. Strong answers anchor stopping on agreed exit criteria and acceptable risk, not on "when we run out of time" or "when there are no bugs".

EXAMPLE

Example scenario.

A team sets exit criteria for release: 100% of planned tests run, 95% pass, zero open Critical/Blocker defects, all others triaged. On release day two Major bugs remain; because they are triaged and accepted with workarounds, the criteria are met and the team ships with eyes open.

TIP

Interview tip.

When asked "when do you stop testing?", answer with exit criteria and acceptable risk. List a few concrete criteria, and note that "zero defects" is rarely realistic, the bar is known, accepted risk.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions.

How are entry and exit criteria different from the definition of done?

Definition of done is usually a team-wide checklist for a user story. Entry and exit criteria are scoped to a specific test phase, the conditions to start it and the conditions to declare it complete and move on.

Should exit criteria require zero defects?

Rarely. Mature exit criteria are based on acceptable risk: planned tests run, a pass-rate threshold, no open Blocker/Critical defects, and all remaining issues triaged and accepted, not an unrealistic zero-bug bar.