Date: 2019-09-08

Definition of Done - A list of criteria which must be met before a product increment is considered “done”.

Pros:

• DoD provided a checklist which usefully guides pre-implementation activities: discussion, estimation, design.
• The DoD limits cost of rework once a feature has been accepted as ‘done’
• Having an explicit contract limits the risk of misunderstanding and conflict between the development team and the customer or product owner.

Cons:

• Obsessing over the list of criteria can be counter-productive
• individual features or user stories may have specific ‘done’ criteria.
• The DoD may lose much of its effectiveness if it is not displayed on a wall.

Definition of Ready - a list of explicit and visible criteria (based on INVEST) that a user story must meet prior to being accepted into upcoming iteration.

INVEST is:

I - independent of all others

N - negotiable - not a specific contract for features

V - valuable

E - estimable - to a good approximation

S - small - so as to fit within an iteration

T - testable - in principle, even if there isn’t a test for it yet