Definition of Done

Ask five people whether a feature is done and you may get five answers. A developer may mean the code is written, a tester may mean it passed testing, and a product manager may mean customers can use it. Those differences cause real problems: work that looks finished turns out to need days of testing, documentation or security fixes, and estimates and progress reports become meaningless. The Definition of Done removes the ambiguity. It turns done from an opinion into a checklist that anyone can verify. It is a shared list of quality criteria that every item must meet, such as code reviewed, tests passing and documentation updated, before the team calls it done.

The Definition of Done is a formal part of Scrum. The 2020 Scrum Guide describes it as a commitment attached to the Increment, and states that if an organization has standards for done, every team must follow them at a minimum. The concept is used widely beyond Scrum, including in Kanban, SAFe and many internal delivery standards. For developers, testers, product owners and delivery leaders, a clear Definition of Done is one of the simplest ways to improve quality and make progress reports trustworthy.

What the Definition of Done Means

The Definition of Done is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product, applied consistently to every backlog item so that work is only considered done, and only shown at the Sprint Review, when it meets every criterion.

It is a core commitment in Scrum, complements the definition of ready used before work starts and differs from the item-specific acceptance criteria written for each user story.

Typical Criteria

Code is written, peer reviewed and merged to the main branch, and automated tests are written and passing.

The work has been tested in an environment like production, including relevant security and performance checks.

Documentation, such as release notes or user help, has been updated where needed.

The work meets the product's accessibility, security and compliance standards, and in teams practicing continuous delivery, it has been deployed to production. The exact list varies by product and team, but it should cover everything needed for the work to be usable without further effort.

Definition of Done vs Acceptance Criteria

The Definition of Done applies to every item. It describes the quality standard all work must meet.

Acceptance criteria apply to one item. They describe what a specific feature must do to meet the user's needs.

An item is complete only when it meets both its acceptance criteria and the Definition of Done. Keeping the two separate stops teams from repeating the same quality checks in every story's acceptance criteria.

Importance of the Definition of Done in Delivery and Engineering Operations

The Definition of Done protects quality. Consistent standards prevent shortcuts that create defects and technical debt.

It makes progress transparent. When done means the same thing every time, completed work truly is complete, and reports and forecasts become reliable.

It also reduces hidden work. Testing, documentation and security tasks are included in done, rather than piling up as undone work before a release. It makes estimates more honest, since teams size items knowing they must meet the full standard.

The Definition of Done and Financial Management

Finishing work properly the first time avoids the cost of rework, late testing and production defects.

Hidden undone work, such as postponed testing, distorts progress and budget forecasts, often leading to overruns near release.

A stronger Definition of Done may slow apparent progress at first, but it reduces the cost of instability and technical debt later.

Including compliance requirements in done reduces the cost of audits and last-minute remediation.

Common Challenges

Many teams have a Definition of Done written down but not used, so items are called done when they are not.

Different teams on the same product may have different definitions, which makes integration and reporting unreliable. Some teams confuse the Definition of Done with a release checklist, adding steps that belong to deployment rather than to each item.

Teams may set a weak definition because they lack automation or environments, then never strengthen it. Pressure to show progress can tempt teams to relax the definition near deadlines, which simply moves the work to later.