Definition of Done

The Definition of Done (DoD) is the shared, explicit checklist that turns "I finished coding" into "this is releasable". It is the commitment attached to the Increment, and it is the single most effective defence against accumulating invisible work.

A worked example

An item is Done when:
  [ ] Code reviewed and merged to main
  [ ] Unit and integration tests written and passing in CI
  [ ] No new static-analysis or security warnings
  [ ] Documentation and API reference updated
  [ ] Feature flag configured, with a rollback path
  [ ] Deployed to staging and verified against acceptance criteria
  [ ] Product Owner has seen it working

Notice what is not on the list: "developer says it works". Every line is verifiable by someone other than its author.

The states an item passes through

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> Backlog
    Backlog --> InProgress: pulled in Sprint Planning
    InProgress --> InReview: code complete
    InReview --> Done: meets every line of the DoD
    InReview --> InProgress: review or tests fail
    Done --> [*]
    InProgress --> Backlog: not finished when the Sprint ends

There is no "done except for testing" state. An item either meets the Definition of Done or it returns to the Product Backlog.

Rules of thumb

• One DoD per team, at minimum. If several teams work on one product, the DoD is the product's, and teams may add to it but never subtract.
• It only tightens over time. As automation improves, items move from the DoD into the pipeline and new quality bars take their place.
• It is not the acceptance criteria. Acceptance criteria are per item and describe what the feature must do. The DoD is global and describes how finished any item must be.

Definition of Ready

Some teams keep a mirror-image checklist for items entering a Sprint: estimated, small enough, dependencies known, acceptance criteria written. Useful as a guideline, dangerous as a gate, because a strict Definition of Ready quietly recreates a requirements phase in front of every Sprint.

Undone work

Whatever the DoD leaves out does not disappear, it accumulates. A team whose DoD excludes performance testing is building a debt that will be paid in a hardening Sprint, which is exactly the phase-based delivery Scrum was meant to replace.

Check Your Understanding

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What is the difference between acceptance criteria and the Definition of Done?

They are the same checklist under two names

Acceptance criteria are per item and describe what it must do, while the Definition of Done is global and describes how finished any item must be

Correct. One is about behavior, the other is about quality and completeness across every item.

Acceptance criteria are written by the team, the Definition of Done by stakeholders

The Definition of Done applies only at release time

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A team's Definition of Done excludes performance testing to move faster. What is the predictable result?

Velocity becomes more accurate over time

Nothing, as long as stakeholders accept the Increments

The Product Owner takes over performance testing

Undone work accumulates until a hardening phase is needed, reintroducing the phase-based delivery Scrum was meant to remove

Correct. Excluded work is deferred, never cancelled, and it comes back at a worse exchange rate.

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