Defining Done

DEFINING
DONE

Not sure about if you have finished working on a feature so it can be delivered?
Let’s talk about it…
Ever been in a similar situation during a project?

WHAT «DONE» MEANS?

The chicken (or pig) has stopped struggling. Usually, it has stopped bleeding as well
There is a pleasant smell coming out the kitchen
You’ve taken the meal out of the oven and it’s ready to be served
Done for cooking

Done for painting a room
The room has a uniform, good looking color (maybe different than before)
There are no spots
Your clothes don’t change its color after leaning on a wall

Done for Bart & Lisa
A reasonable amount of time has passed since departure
The engine of the car has been stopped
We’re parked next to the funfair

If Bart and Lisa had thought about that beforehand, maybe they wouldn’t have bothered Homer.

Is it the same if we are building software?
Can we think about some criteria that determine if we have finished building any increment for our system?
What can we learn from this?

WHY IS IT GOOD TO AGREE ON WHAT “DONE” MEANS?

Why?
The team has a clearer, common idea about if anything is ready to be delivered

Why?
It is easier to be focused on what to do, and on building value

Why?
It provides a point of reference for estimations and planning

Why?
Stakeholders know what to expect when they receive a new version

Why?
It reduces the risk of accumulating partially finished things

WHAT HAPPENS IF “DONE” IS UNCLEAR?

Whathappensifit’sunclear?
It is difficult to estimate our velocity/lead time/date of delivery

Stakeholders can get confused about what are they receiving

Undone work/technical debt can accumulate dramatically without even noticing; uncertainty grows

WHAT IS “DONE” FOR SOFTWARE?

Done should define when any piece of what we are building is "potentially shippable"
If customer decides to release it, it should be possible to do it without investing much (or any) work
Done = Shippable

The Definition of Done is a simple, auditable checklist that belongs to the team
It can be influenced by the environment: the organization, specific characteristics of the product, circumstances of the release…
It is different across teams and organizations
It reflects the team’s capabilities at any moment
It is used as a filter when deciding what is ready to be delivered
It is a key component in any project
Being more specific…

The code compiles
Tests exists and are passing
Application is deployed in an environment suitable for the customer to check it
Acceptance criteria is met (it is working as expected)
(Very) simple example

WHO DEFINES DONE?

The team should be the ones having the last word
Product Owner should understand it and agree on its content
Stakeholders understand it and agree on its content (on their own terms)
Theteamdoes!

WHEN IS “DONE” DEFINED?

It has to be agreed upon before starting to deal with any work
The list is revised when needed, and updated if necessary
Maybe you will stick with the same list for the entire project
Maybe you will make some changes at certain points to incorporate new skills or capabilities
Maybe you will remove things that no longer make sense
Maybe you’ll change it only for a particular release or iteration
Anytime… butalwaysbeforebeginning

HOW CAN I MAKE UP THE LIST?

Guideline

Don’t ship demos or prototypes
Assure that the application does anything that it’s supposed to do (functional validation is very important)
The customer should be able to begin using whatever has been built immediately
Don’t sacrifice internal quality or accumulate technical debt
You’renot in analmightyteam!
Start simple and evolve it
Brainstorm, having in mind…

What if I’m asked to ship even knowing that “done” has not been met?

Make it explicit
Keep track of any undone work
Fix it as soon as possible. At the very latest, before shipping
Try toavoidit!Butifthereis no way…

REVISING THE EXAMPLES…

The chicken (or pig) has stopped struggling. Usually, it has stopped bleeding as well
There is a pleasant smell coming out the kitchen
You’ve taken the meal out of the oven and it’s ready to be served
Done for cooking

The kitchen is clean and tidy again
You’vepreparedthreecourses
It tastes good, and guestscongratulateyouforthedinner
Done for cooking

Done for painting a room
The room has a uniform, good looking color (maybe different than before)
There are no spots
Your clothes don’t change its color after leaning on a wall

But also…
Thereisnot a buckethalffilledwithpaint in theway
Thefurniture has returnedtoits place
Youdon’thavepaint spots alloveryou

Designed
Coded and refactored
Unit tested
Build automated
Functional tested
Integration tested
User acceptance tested
Regression tested
Performance tested
Security tested
Peer reviewed
Merged to main branch in version control
Backlog updated
X% code coverage achieved
Packaged, or installer generated
Deployment automated
User manual updated
…
What about software?

ALM Team Lead at PlainConcepts
Professional ScrumDeveloperTrainer, PSM I, CSM
jlsoria@plainconcepts.com
http://geeks.ms/blogs/jlsoria
@jlsoriat
JOSE LUIS SORIA
Thanks!!!

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Defining Done

by Jose Luis Soria Teruel on May 13, 2011

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Defining Done — Presentation Transcript