Your Search is Over: The Definition of Done in 3 Easy Steps

Has your team struggled to define “done” for user stories? You are alone. Everyone has this one figured out.  You must be new to this thing called agile software development. What’s that? You’ve been doing this agile thing for some time now?  Wow, that has got to be depressing. I’m sorry to hear that you’re struggling with such a simple concept.  Fortunately for you I’ve got the answer. Follow these three simple steps:

  1. Listen to this podcast with Scott Hanselman interviewing one of the founding fathers of Scrum, Ken Schwaber
  2. Sit down with the team, Product Owner, Scrum Master, and maybe even major stakeholders to define what success is for your project in a clear and simple manner
  3. Make a list of all the activities required to achieve the level of quality required by step 2 for a typical user story in the backlog

Easy, right? That’s fine.  When you punch the picture of me on the screen I don’t feel a thing. I’m still smiling, see?

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