The document discusses the concepts of 'readiness' and 'definition of done' in the Scrum framework, emphasizing their importance for effective agile project management. 'Readiness' refers to the completion of development requirements, whereas 'done' signifies that all necessary acceptance criteria have been met for release. It also outlines the roles of Scrum team members and the ongoing need for collaboration and clarity in the development process.

1. Scrum: Readiness &
Definition of Done
by A. Kamran
Lean Agile Council
Best Practices in Scope Readiness and High Quality Delivery

2. Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done
In this presentation we will take a look at:
❖Scrum Basics
❖The Short Version: “Readiness” & “Done”
❖Readiness
❖Definition of Done
© 2018 – 2019 A. Kamran
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3. A bit about the presenter: A. Kamran
• Certified Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Master (since 2006), Certified Scrum
Product Owner, Certified Scaled Agile Enterprise Transformation Lead (SPC/SA),
Certified Scrum@Scale Practitioner, Certified Kanban Practitioner.
• 12+ years in Agile and Hybrid approaches (total 20+ years in Consulting and
Project Management)
• Specialized in Scaled Agile / Scrum using (SAFe, Scrum@Scale, LeSS, Nexus)
• Consulted on, coached and/or directly managed technology solution delivery
teams for the Fortune Global 500 companies (incl. 5 major Canadian banks) as
well as Public Sector.
• Has launched 3 Successful Start Ups in Technology and Consulting Services; The most recent
launched in 2015 using the Lean Start Up model (now a growing high tech boutique in
Machine Learning technology solutions with 4 bases of operation in:
• Toronto,
• Palo Alto (Silicon Valley),
• Glasgow (Scotland, UK), and
• Hong Kong.
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© 2018 – 2019 A. Kamran

4. A framework, based on Agile approach for managing knowledge work, with
an emphasis on software development.
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5. Scrum Roles
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Scrum Master
• Servant-Leader
• Safeguards the Team
• Facilitates day-to-day work
• Removed Impediments
• Hosts and Runs the Scrum Ceremonies
• Promotes Scrum Values and Best Practices
Product Owner
• Owner of Scope (Prod Backlog) and Release
• Presents the work items to the team
• Provides the minimum needed requirements
• Safeguards the scope during the Sprint
• Can Cancel Sprint if Scope becomes obsolete
Development Team
• Ux, Design, Development, Testing
• Self-Organizing & Cross-Functional
• Does the estimation and sizing
• Chooses Sprint’s Backlog items
• Decides on how to develop and deliver
• Delivers the Incremental Product
© 2018-2019 A. Kamran

6. What do we mean by
“Readiness” and “Done”?
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran

7. Here is a
Short Version
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran

8. Readiness refers to the state of adequacy of the requirements (for development &
testing) as provided in the high priority stories in the Product Backlog that Product
Owner would like to present to the Development Team during the Sprint Planning.
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

9. Done refers to the state of Release-Readiness (i.e. completeness of the
Development, Testing and the other Acceptance Criteria) as achieved on Sprint
Backlog Stories at the end of the Sprint.
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

10. Let’s take a closer
look…
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran

11. As we mentioned, Product Owner (PO) owns the Product
Backlog and the Release.
That puts PO on both sides of the Sprint.
PO presents the top few items on the Product Backlog to
the Development Team during the Sprint Planning.
PO is the ultimate authority to accept or reject the
product (increment) that is completed – and ready for
Release if PO decides – at the end of the Sprint.
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done
Product
Backlog

12. Development Team is the group of people on the team that do the
work required to convert the requirements into a releasable
product.
During the Sprint Planning, the Development Team goes through
the Stories that PO is presenting and reviews the required work
with the PO and decides / negotiates on their selection for the
new Sprint.
Development Team owns the Sprint Backlog and is accountable
for delivery of the selected Stories – as per the required quality.
As a result, they can only commit to Stories that have enough
requirement details – i.e. are READY to get picked for the new
Sprint - to allow for a clear understanding of what needs to be
done to develop and test the work.
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Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

13. Ready means a clearly defined Story with a
• Clear set of Development Requirement
• Clear Statement on the Business Value that
will be resulted from the implementation of
this Story (or the Product Increment this
Story belongs to).
• Clear listing of Pre-Dev enablers that need to
be added to the Story prior to Dev work (such
as UXD wireframes, Visualization Designs,
Prototypes, Mock shots, Simulation Data,
Test Data and so on).
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

14. Ready also requires the Story to meet the following criteria:
• Its rough estimate (sizing) should show it would fit within one
Sprint. (The actual final sizing will be done by the Development
Team).
• It should avoid any pending dependencies to any external
resources or elements during the Sprint (i.e. The Development
Team should not have to depend to someone outside their team
to deliver any piece before they can take on the Story).
• In cases where it is inevitable that a live external
dependency is going to exist and follow a Story through the
Sprint, proper adequate coordination with the external
dependency must be arranged and closely tracked to avoid
disruption to the work during the Sprint (let’s not forget that
we need to consider time needed for testing once the Dev is
completed and a delay imposed by external dependencies
can damage our commitment to deliver!)
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Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

15. Development Team decides if a Story is Ready for selection into the new Sprint.
If they decide a Story presented by the PO is Not Ready, they can ask PO to provide the needed clarification and
details (and/or examples, mock images or prototypes).
Development Team should NEVER be forced to bring in Stories that they did not commit to deliver.
Backlog Refinement sessions, even though they are not officially part of Scrum process, have empirically proven
to be the best opportunity for both parties to review the Readiness of the Stories and to ask for clarifications.
PO would then have time to continue to find answers to Development Teams’ questions on the requirements and
clarifications.
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done
Product
Backlog
Sprint
Backlog

16. Definition of Done (DoD) is a mutual agreement between the
Development Team and PO on what constitutes a Story that is ready for
Release.
Some organizations have pre-defined DoDs for a variety of Story types.
They may even be defined at departmental levels.
In other cases no such pre-definition is in place and it is up to the Scrum
Team to establish that agreement.
It is important for all Scrum Teams working within the same department
or being in any sort or interdependent working relationship to establish
and use the same DoD.
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

17. DoD can be defined as a blanket cover for all Story types, or can be more granular to
provide a different set for any specified Story types.
DONE is a qualifying status for a Release Ready Product Increment.
Based on what it means for that Scrum Team (or their department) to be considered
Release Ready, it should contain cover:
✓ Completion of Development
✓ Completion of Code Review
✓ Completion of Testing:
❑Unit Testing,
❑Regression Testing,
❑Integration Testing,
❑Functional Testing,
❑Non-functional Testing,
❑User Acceptance Testing,
❑Usability Testing, Stability Testing, Stress Testing …
❑Any other QA work needed …… and ……
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Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

18. ✓Meeting all Acceptance Criteria (for that specific Story or group of Stories)
✓ SLA (Service Level Agreements),
✓ Performance (meeting certain metrics)
✓ Compliance (adhering to certain constraints or coverages)
✓ Information Security Audit (if needed)
✓ Accessibility Audit (if needed)
✓ Technical Debt (either to lessen or at least not add to)
✓ PO Accepted the Product Increment (and deemed as Releasble)
✓ Stakeholders Sign-off (or Acceptance of any kind)
✓ Demo is prepared
✓ Demo is presented
✓ Approval Received
✓ Knowledge Center updated (or manuals or training materials and such)
✓ and …
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

19. Also, depending on the Release, we may need to also have a few
more items on our list before the Sprint is considered as Done
(i.e. Sprint Goals are all check marked):
✓Build is complete and its free from bugs.
✓Build is successfully promoted to the Production Environment.
✓Release Notes are prepared and provided
✓Infrastructure Change Documents provided
✓Operations hand-over is completed and they are ready to take
over after the Release. (This may also need to extend to other
areas as well, such as Call Center or Customer Support).
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Scrum: Readiness and Definition of Done

20. Note:
“Readiness” and “DoD”
are Not Static and
can Change as Needed
Through Time!
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21. The organization’s Agile Center of Excellence
Should be tasked with these definitions and their updates.
It should also have an oversight on their proper implementation.
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© 2018-2019 A. Kamran
Questions? Contact me!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/armankamran