Definition of Ready
“Definition of Ready” Is a term commonly used to define when a story can be put on the sprint backlog
It helps guide the breaking down and refinement of features
Before a story can be estimated by the team it needs to be defined in enough detail to enable the team
to understand it and to see how they could implement, the diagram below illustrates that a story might
go through two stages of preparation prior to being added to the sprint backlog. The team will agree
what preparation is needed to deem that is it "ready".
Checklists
Pre condition checklist to sprinting, Provides the team with the minimum input required for the team to
provide a commitment for sprint delivery (against DoD criteria) with a high degree of confidence.
Maturity Level 1
Ways of working agreed and understood
All User stories (/ Abuser stories*)….
Are defined in Jira (As a … I want to … so that …)
Are Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small
and Testable – INVEST *
Have Acceptance Criteria defined, in a BDD format
(given.. When.. Then)
Have all significant architectural decisions made that the
User Story is dependent on
UI Designs defined and signed off
WireFrames and User Journeys defined
Sprint Backlog..
Prioritized
Is sized by the Development Team, and can fit in the
sprint (typically < 13 SP)
contains all defects, User Stories and other work that the
team is committing to
Team know what and how demo will be achieved
All team members have calculated their capacity (team
availability) for the Sprint
All team members are fulltime on the project
Development / testing environments are set-up and
available
Maturity Level Full
Ways of working agreed and understood
All User stories (/ Abuser stories*)….
Are defined in Jira (As a … I want to … so that …
Are Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small
and Testable – INVEST
Have Acceptance Criteria defined, in a BDD format
(given.. When.. Then
Have defined Quality Attributes (NFRs) (relevant for this
story
Including all Operational NFR’
Have dependencies identified
Have all significant architectural decisions made that the
User Story is dependent o
Have defined API ‘s and contract available for any
systems that the User Story needs to interface
Has design sketches where there are cross system
impacts
Have performance criteria identified, where appropriate
WireFrames and User Journeys define
Backlog..
Prioritized
Is sized by the Development Team, and can fit in the
sprint (typically < 13 SP)
contains all defects, User Stories and other work that the
team is committing to
Team know what and how demo will be achieved
All team members have calculated their capacity for the
Sprint
All team members are fulltime on the project
Development / testing environments are set-up and
available
Story Ready
All User stories (/ Abuser stories*)….
Product Owner - Are defined in Jira (As a … I want to … so
that …)
Product Owner - Have Acceptance Criteria defined
BDD format (Given.. When.. Then)
Other formats available (by exception??)
Have defined Quality Attributes (NFRs)
Technical Product Owner - Have all significant
architectural decisions made that the User Story is
dependent on
Technical Product Owner - Have defined Third Party API ‘s
and contract available for any systems that the User Story
needs to interface
Technical Product Owner - Has (software) design sketches
where there are cross system impacts
UX - Wireframes created & user journeys
Visual Design - Designs created
All - Are Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable,
Small and Testable – INVEST
Must have enough detail to ensure the team can commit
to delivery within a sprint