The rise and fall of the Definition of Ready in Scrum
And the redundancy of a misunderstood attribute
The Definition of Ready (DoR) is a controversial concept. Many people see it as a vital part of Scrum. In their eyes, the DoR exists to help everyone have the same understanding of when a Product Backlog Item is ready for a Sprint. The item should have clear commencement criteria. Often teams use techniques like INVEST (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small and Testable).
Opponents of the Definition of Ready argue that it conflicts with an Agile way of working. According to them, it incentivizes Waterfall thinking and task completion over meeting a goal.
The Definition of Ready used to be part of Scrum. But not anymore. In this article, I will now show you the rise and fall of the Definition of Ready in Scrum.
1986 — The New New Product Development Game
I am one of many who see the Harvard Business Review article from Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka as the first Scrum article. It didn’t have this name yet, but Takeuchi and Nonaka defined the most important concepts of the framework then and there.
The New New Product Development Game has the essence of Scrum. This included the emphasis on goals instead…
