Definition of Done

The Definition of Done (DoD)

I find that having the Product Owner specify specific acceptance criteria (AC) per story helps the developers and quality analysts understand exactly what is expected from the feature to determine whether is is ready to be accepted.

The team agrees to a list of criteria which must be met before a product increment (often a user story) is considered "done". Failure to meet these criteria at the end of a sprint normally implies that the work should not be counted toward that sprint’s velocity. The DoD should be displayed prominently in the team room (stand-up room).

Things to Consider

• Obsessing over the list of criteria can be counter-productive; the list needs to define the minimum work generally required to get a product increment to the "done" state
• Individual features or user stories must contain specific AC
• If the DoD is merely a shared understanding, rather than spelled out and displayed on a wall, it may lose much of its effectiveness; a good part of its value lies in being an explicit contract known to all members of the team
• The team uses the DoD at the end of a sprint to justify the decision to count work towards velocity or not
• The DoD must be practical or it will fall by the wayside. You can always expand it once you are consistently meeting the basic criteria

Expected Benefits

• The DoD provides a checklist which usefully guides pre-implementation activities, such as discussion, estimation, design, and AC specifications
• The DoD limits the cost of rework once a feature has been accepted as "done" - If the business unit wants to modify the feature after completion the modification is to be written as a new story and placed in the Product Backlog
• Having an explicit contract limits the risk of misunderstanding and conflict between the business unit and development team

An Example of a DoD

Definition of Done for Team "Scrum-cious"

• The Developer claims all acceptance criteria has been satisfied through Unit Testing
• Unit Testing was verified by a peer
• QA tested and approved the story based on the AC
• The PO has approved the story