Definition of Done

Introduction

The DoD is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. The moment a Product Backlog Item meets the DoD, an Increment is born.

If a Product Backlog item does not meet the DoD, it cannot be released or even presented at the Sprint Review.

The DoD must be agreed with the entire team and must be achievable with a Sprint. There could be cases where several PBIs relate to each other and must be integrated for a system test as part of the DoD. This can potentially lead to a waterfall tendency, which should be avoided.

In the vast majority of situations, the DoD applies to an increment, and a new increment does not exist until one or more PBIs meet the DoD. It applies to all product increments and defines the overall quality of a product.

Lifecycle

The DoD starts with organizational standards that all teams must follow as a minimum. That infers that teams can add to the organizational DoD but cannot omit items from it.

If there's something to add, edit or remove from the DoD, this should be inspected and adapted at the Sprint Retrospective.

There's a bug we are constantly encountering, but we can prevent it if we remember to test for it or inspect for it. Add it to the DoD.

You should generally avoid changing the DoD during a Sprint, but there can be exceptions. The whole team must agree to the change.

Example

The scrum.org website proposes the following:

Taking the above points into account, the following is an example of what our DoD could be:

Documentation

• Release notes are updated
• Wiki pages are updated
• Release plan instructions are updated

Testing

• High level tests documents are updated
• Unit tests are passed and reach X% coverage
• Regression tests are passed
• Accesibility tests are passed

Code

• All documented errors have been resolved
• No compile warnings
• Peer reviewed by at least X people
• PBI status is updated
• No defects are released unless documented

FE

• Style guidelines are followed
• Ensure that project works on mobile and desktop

Other

• Approval by Product Owner is received

If something on a DoD doesn't apply to the PBI, it's OK to consider it not applicable (N/A).