Five Quick & Easy Ways to Improve Your Definition of Done
Introduction
Within Scrum, the ‘Definition of Done’ (DoD) is a crucial concept. It is the commitment to the Increment. It serves as a clear set of criteria that a Product Backlog Item selected for the Sprint must meet to be considered complete. This transparency is essential for ensuring the quality of the Increment, managing expectations, and guiding teams toward successful products.
Clear communication is vital in any project, and the Definition of Done fosters this by providing a common language. When all team members and stakeholders have a shared understanding of what ‘Done’ means, it eliminates ambiguity. This transparency helps in aligning team members and ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding the quality of the product.
The Definition of Done plays a significant role in ensuring customer satisfaction. When the Increment meets the agreed-upon standards, clients are more likely to be satisfied with the final product. This satisfaction is crucial for building long-term relationships with clients and for enhancing the reputation of the team or organization.
I’ve seen teams both owning and totally failing the DoD and I’d love to share my learnings. Let’s explore five easy steps to improve your Definition of Done.
Step 1. Simplify and Specify Quality Criteria
The primary importance of the Definition of Done is its role in maintaining quality standards. By establishing clear benchmarks for what ‘Done’ means, teams have a concrete understanding of the necessary quality level for each selected Product Backlog Item.
Start by simplifying your quality criteria: Instead of lengthy, complex standards, opt for clear and concise statements. This approach makes the DoD more understandable and memorable. When a team is working together for a long time and more accustomed to the product, the DoD is likely to become more stringent.
Step 2. Streamline Testing Requirements
Testing is a cornerstone of any DoD. Make it easy by specifying essential tests. Streamlining testing requirements in the DoD means focusing on essential testing activities that directly contribute to the quality and functionality of the product. This approach aims to balance thorough testing with efficiency, avoiding overly complex or redundant testing procedures that can slow down the development process. This transparency helps the team focus on what’s crucial without being overwhelmed.
Step 3. Focus on Essential Documentation
There’s a lot of discusion about documentation in Agile and Scrum Teams. The Agile Manifesto clearly states:
Working software over comprehensive documentation.
This statement is often interpreted as if documentation is not important. Well, it is. However, working software is more important. Why focus on documentation if your product isn’t usable? When it works, you can document what is built. But avoid overburdening the team with excessive documentation requirements. Identify key documentation (such as release notes or code comments) for your product together with your team and stakeholders.
These first three steps are about the content of the DoD, while the last two steps are about maintaining and incorporating it. So, before I go to Step 4 and 5, I’ll share two examples. The first is a lengthy and complex Definition of Done. The second one uses the first three tips. Hopefully, you’ll see the difference.
Example 1:
“Before considering a feature as complete, the code must undergo a series of checks including, but not limited to, passing all unit tests with a minimum coverage of 85%, ensuring that all methods and classes are documented with inline comments and external documentation, adhering to coding standards as per the latest version of our internal coding guidelines document, which includes conventions for naming, formatting, and structuring of the code. Additionally, the code should be peer-reviewed by at least two team members who are not the original authors, and it should have no open critical or high-priority issues in the bug-tracking system. The feature should also demonstrate a performance benchmark where latency is less than 50 milliseconds under standard load conditions, and it should be compatible with all supported operating systems and browsers as listed in the project specification document.”
This example illustrates a complex standard where multiple, detailed conditions must be met, potentially making it hard for team members to swiftly but thoroughly check if an item is ‘Done’. Simplifying this into more straightforward, easily understandable criteria can be beneficial for the team. This would involve breaking it down into clear, concise, and specific criteria. Here’s how it could be restructured.
Example 2:
Quality Criteria:
☑ “Code must pass all unit tests.”
☑ “Adhere to key coding standards: naming, formatting, and structuring.”
Testing:
☑ “Product Backlog Item must pass peer review by one other team member.”
☑ “No open critical or high-priority bugs.”
☑ “Regression tests are performed and the new code does not impact existing functionalities.”
Performance:
☑ “Ensure latency is under 50 milliseconds in standard load tests.”
Compatibility:
☑ “Compatible with all major operating systems and browsers as listed in the project.”
☑ “User interfaces should comply with the latest accessibility guidelines.”
Documentation:
☑ “Maintain a log of all major code changes.”
This example DoD focuses on the most critical aspects, presented in a straightforward manner. It eliminates overly detailed instructions and redundancies while maintaining the core standards necessary to ensure quality and functionality. The result is a more accessible and easily digestible set of criteria for the team to check off during the Sprint. ✅
Step 4. Incorporate Regular Reviews and Updates
The DoD should be a living document. Regular reviews help your team to update it as necessary. This could (read should) be part of your Sprint Retrospectives. For example, after completing a Sprint, ask, “Does our DoD still reflect our current understanding of quality and completeness?”
Step 5. Create Visual Reminders
This might be the most vital one. Team members tend to forget the existence and content of your DoD. So, to keep the DoD top of mind, use visual aids. Create a concise, visually appealing version of your DoD and display it prominently in the workspace. This could be a poster or a digital dashboard widget. Seeing the DoD daily helps the team internalize it and ensures it is consistently applied.
Conclusion
In summary, in this article, I shared five essential strategies for refining the Definition of Done. These improvements focus on making the DoD more effective and easier to remember for Scrum teams. The key strategies include: Simplifying quality criteria, streamlining testing requirements, focusing on essential documentation, regular reviews, and visual reminders.
These strategies aim to optimize the DoD, making it a more practical and intuitive tool for the team, thereby contributing to the successful delivery of high-quality software products.
Have you implemented any of these strategies in your team’s Definition of Done? Or do you have other tips that have worked well for your team? Share your experiences. I’d love to learn from your (failures and) successes! And if you found these tips helpful, don’t forget to give a round of applause and share your thoughts in the comments! 👏💬
