What is the definition of done and the definition of ready?

When undertaking an agile software development or digital transformation project, some of the most important aspects are your parameters for completion. What preconditions need to be met? What bites in the backlog should we be focusing on? What is the quality of the product that stakeholders expect from the project output to ensure a finished and complete product?

When people interact with complex systems, these ideas can get a bit confusing.

Hence why, in agile scrum teams the concepts of the definition of done (DoD) and definition of ready (DoR) become essential components, ensuring that there is a consensus on what tasks the team can start working on and whether the result can be considered complete or not.

But what is a DoD and a DoR and how do you implement them to ensure that you know when your agile digital transformation has been effectively completed?

Scrum and Backlog

Before diving into the DoD and DoR parameters in detail. It is first important to get a grasp of the big picture of an agile scrum team, the concept of a backlog and user stories.

At the product level, as well as the sprint level, a backlog refers to a project’s ‘to do list’, or requirements repository. All items that are deemed as ‘in scope’ for the project are ordered in the backlog, meaning that the higher the position that a task takes up in the backlog, the more important that task is. This order is decided by the product owner, driven by business value after consultation with the development team.

Items are added to the backlog in the form of ‘user stories’, or short descriptions of a desired feature told from the perspective of the person who requires the capability.

A sprint is a time-boxed period whereby an agile scrum team works to complete a set amount of high priority items from the sprint backlog in order to turn them into a product increment. It is important that these defined user stories are ‘ready’

Definition of Ready (DoR)

A DoR should define the criteria that a specific user story must meet before being considered for inclusion into a sprint. It should also include the essential set of preconditions that need to be met, allowing the next step in the value creation process to happen effectively.

By observing and following a ‘definition of ready’, the chances of teammates becoming frustrated with a backlog they don’t fully understand and cannot effectively follow through with are significantly reduced.

A ‘ready’ item in the backlog of a digital transformation needs to be clear, actionable and feasible. ● Clear items suggest that all scrum team members have a shared understanding of what the task entails. ● An item is testable if there is a way to effectively measure its functionality and determine if its functionality will work as expected. ● A user story can be considered feasible if it can be completed in a single sprint, if this is not possible the task must be further broken down.

Definition of Done (DoD)

DoR is primarily focused on user story and backlog level characteristics. DoD, on the other hand, is focused on the sprint level. The purpose of a well-implemented DoD is to make it as crystal clear as possible as to when the work is completed, representing acceptance criteria for a sprint or release.

The DoD represents an agreement between the development team and product owner on the work that needs to be done for each user story. This ensures that everyone on the team knows exactly what is expected of everything the team is to deliver, promoting further transparency and quality from the product and organisation.

Failure to meet these criteria by the end of the sprint means that it shouldn’t be released or presented at the sprint review and should instead be returned to the product backlog for further consideration.

Things that are commonly addressed in the DoD include: ● Operating requirements and level of integration (what version of Linux/android/ios/browser) ● Level of documentation required ● The quality expectations for the product (does it require basic functionality for demo proposes or a fully bulletproof application) ● Security expectations for the product (does the product require security to be vetted on all levels from code reviews to network security configuration) ● Scalability

DoR and DoD are two of the most important principles for scrum teams to consider when conducting a digital transformation, denoting when a user story is fleshed out enough to be tackled whilst defining the criteria for the success of the user stories.

Without a well defined DoR and DoD, there is a lack of transparency and logic regarding what to start working on and the standards to which things should be completed, leading to a disorganised project that may well not match the expectations of your client.

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