Stop 07 · Agile, Execution & DeliveryTopics · 7/12

Definition of Done

In short

"It's done, just not tested" is the most dangerous sentence in software. A Definition of Done makes "done" mean the same thing to everyone.

A team's explicit, shared checklist for when a story is truly complete — code merged, tested, documented, deployed — preventing the 'it's done except for...' problem.

The purple blob folds freshly ironed clothes into a neat stack beside an iron and a cupboard.

Think of it like this

When is laundry really done?

Clothes in the machine aren't done. Washed isn't done. Dried isn't done either. Laundry is done when it's ironed, folded and back in the cupboard. Ask any family member and they'll agree, because the steps are clear.

Watch it happen

Checking a story against the DoD

enqueue(Code reviewed)

Code reviewed

Front of the queue is coloured

1/5Another engineer approved the pull request.

The big ideas

What you need to know

One shared checklist

The DoD applies to every story. Acceptance criteria are specific to each story.

The team writes it

Engineers, testers and the PM agree on it together, and revisit it in retros.

No partial credit

A story that misses one DoD item isn't done, and doesn't count toward velocity.

Include quality items

Teams often add accessibility, analytics events and docs to the DoD.

Save yourself the pain

Common mistakes

Oops

Moving cards to Done once the code is written.

Do this instead

Done means the whole checklist: reviewed, tested, criteria met, deployed where agreed.

Oops

Confusing the DoD with acceptance criteria.

Do this instead

Criteria say what this story must do. The DoD says what every story must go through.

Your mission

Write your team's DoD

~20 min

Quick check

A story meets all its acceptance criteria, but no one has reviewed the code. Is it done?

Go deeper

1Draft a Definition of Done checklist for a hypothetical engineering team.
2Learn why 'done' without a shared definition causes disputes at sprint review.
3Distinguish Definition of Done (team-level) from Acceptance Criteria (story-level).