Definition of Done

Definition of Done is a shared, explicit understanding of what it means for work to be complete, ensuring consistent quality standards and preventing miscommunication about finished work. This agreement outlines all activities and criteria required before considering a user story, feature, or increment complete. A typical Definition of Done includes code written and reviewed, unit tests created and passing, integration tests passing, documentation updated, acceptance criteria met, code merged to main branch, no known defects, and potentially deployed to production. Teams customize their Definition of Done based on context, technical requirements, and organizational standards. The Definition of Done serves multiple purposes: creates shared quality standards, prevents work that appears done but isn't, reduces technical debt by enforcing completeness, enables consistent velocity measurement, and provides transparency on team capabilities. Without a clear Definition of Done, teams face problems: work marked complete requires rework, technical debt accumulates, velocity becomes unreliable, and quality degrades. Creating an effective Definition of Done requires team collaboration and agreement, specificity about all required activities, realistic standards the team can meet, continuous refinement as capabilities mature, and organizational alignment on minimum standards. Teams may have different Definitions of Done for stories versus epics versus releases. The Definition of Done differs from acceptance criteria: acceptance criteria are specific to individual stories defining functional requirements, while Definition of Done applies to all work defining technical and quality standards. Product managers ensure the Definition of Done balances speed with quality.