Definition of Done vs. Definition of Ready: The Fine Line Between Chaos and Clarity in Scrum
"Are we done yet?"
A developer leans back in their chair, staring at a Jira ticket that’s been bouncing between “In Progress” and “Testing” like a game of Pong. The Scrum Master sighs. The Product Owner squints. The QA engineer lets out a nervous laugh. Welcome to the never-ending cycle of “Done… but not really” and “Ready… but kinda”—two of the most misunderstood concepts in Scrum.
Jeff Sutherland once said, "Scrum is simple, but it is hard to master." And nothing proves that more than the daily struggle of defining what it means to be ‘done’ and when work is truly ‘ready’ to begin. In theory, these definitions should be clear. In reality? It’s like arguing with a toddler about bedtime—it depends on who you ask, how tired they are, and whether they’ve had enough snacks.
Definition of Ready: The Art of Not Jumping Off a Cliff Blindfolded
Picture this: You’re about to cook a meal. The recipe says “make pasta.” Simple, right? But you open the fridge—no pasta, no sauce, no idea what you're doing. Now, you could start cooking anyway, hoping ingredients magically appear, or… you could ensure you have everything ready before you turn on the stove.
That’s Definition of Ready (DoR) in action. A user story should be well-defined, have acceptance criteria, dependencies cleared, and be small enough to complete within a sprint. But too often, teams start work on vague, half-baked ideas because, well, "We’ll figure it out as we go." Spoiler alert: You won’t.
Mike Cohn warns us, “Starting work without clear requirements is like setting sail without a map. You might end up somewhere, but it probably won’t be where you wanted to go.” And yet, teams constantly find themselves in the Bermuda Triangle of unclear stories, where work gets stuck in endless rework and “we need more details” conversations.
A real-life example? A Scrum team at a startup eagerly pulls in a story titled “Improve Login Experience.” Sounds great. But halfway through, they realize no one defined what ‘improve’ actually means. Faster load time? Two-factor authentication? A talking parrot that greets users? The team scrambles to clarify mid-sprint, deadlines slip, and suddenly, "Done" becomes "Maybe next sprint?"
The fix? A solid Definition of Ready. If a story isn’t clear, don’t pull it in. The Product Owner must ensure every item in the backlog is well-defined. Otherwise, it’s like handing a chef a mystery box and hoping for a Michelin-star meal.
Definition of Done: When ‘Done’ Actually Means Done (And Not Just “It Works on My Machine”)
Imagine hiring a contractor to build your dream house. They finish, hand you the keys, and disappear. Excited, you open the front door—only to find no plumbing, no electricity, and half the walls missing. “We built the house,” they say. “You didn’t say it had to be livable.”
That’s what happens when teams don’t have a clear Definition of Done (DoD). They finish coding but skip testing. They deploy but forget documentation. The product “works,” but only in one specific scenario under a full moon.
Ken Schwaber put it bluntly: "A poorly defined Definition of Done leads to undone work, technical debt, and unhappy customers." And yet, many teams operate with a loose or non-existent DoD, thinking they’ll “polish things up later.”
A real-world example? A mobile app team releases a new update. It works on the latest iPhones, so they declare victory. But then, users on older devices report crashes. Turns out, no one tested compatibility. The team scrambles, patches are rushed, and the App Store rating plummets. Lesson learned: Done means tested, documented, and deployable across all intended platforms—not just “it works for us.”
Why Both Matter—And Why Ignoring Them Leads to Chaos
Without a Definition of Ready, teams waste time pulling in stories that aren’t actually ready. Without a Definition of Done, they deliver half-finished work that creates technical debt. Together, these two concepts are the Scrum team’s best defense against confusion, rework, and the dreaded “Are we done or not?” debate.
A wise Scrum Master once said, “A sprint without a clear DoR is like starting a road trip without a map. A sprint without a clear DoD is like arriving with no gas left to get home.” And honestly? No one likes being stranded.
Jeff Sutherland reminds us, "Great Scrum teams don’t just build things fast. They build the right things, and they build them right." So the next time someone asks, “Can we start this story?” or “Is this really done?”—take a deep breath, remember your DoR and DoD, and make sure you’re not about to drive off a cliff.
After all, as the Agile proverb goes: “If it’s not done, it’s not done. If it’s not ready, it’s not ready. And if you ignore both, good luck explaining that in the sprint review.”
Definition of Done, Definition of Ready, Scrum best practices, Agile development, Scrum team efficiency, software development workflow, Agile methodology, Scrum anti-patterns, improving sprint planning, Agile project management
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