Definition of Done Is Like a Unicorn. Everyone Is Talking About Him, No One Has Seen Him
Almost every company I have worked with and helped with the implementation of Scrum struggled with this problem: Definition of Done was like a mythical creature about which legends circulate. People look for it, talk about it, and sometimes even try to create it, but it doesn’t work. We need to ask ourselves: why does this simple concept cause so many problems?
Where is the Definition of Done?
This is one of my favorite questions. The answer to it seems evident and automatic:
- in the project documents
- on the confluence
- on the drive
There are countless variants. Everyone knows where to look for DoD, but no one has the faintest idea what’s written there.
Another category of the problem is lack of understanding, which can be called ignorance. We can divide people into two groups here. The first know where the Definition of Done is but doesn’t know what it is for. The second completely ignores this and recognizes that the only reason the team created the DoD is that the Scrum Guide says it has to be.
As you have probably noticed, this divides DoD errors into two categories. Those related to the…
