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Definition of "Done" for multiple Scrum Teams

Last post 08:58 am April 7, 2018 by Ian Mitchell
7 replies
10:18 am May 21, 2017

The DoD section of the Scrum guide has following 2 statements:

  1. When a Product Backlog item or an Increment is described as “Done”, everyone must understand what “Done” means. Although this varies significantly per Scrum Team, members must have a shared understanding of what it means for work to be complete, to ensure transparency.
  2. If there are multiple Scrum Teams working on the system or product release, the development teams on all of the Scrum Teams must mutually define the definition of “Done”.

Are these two statements contradicting. If DoD is defined mutually by Development teams on all of the Scrum teams, why this varies significantly per Scrum Team?


03:47 am May 23, 2017

I think number 2 comes into play only when you have more than one Scrum Team working not the SAME product release. Scrum teams NOT working on the same product release may have different definitions of "Done" yet everyone on the Scrum Team must understand what that definition is. Also the definition can change with each sprint. 


07:59 am May 23, 2017

1. When you have single Scrum teams working on different products, each team can have their own DoD.

2. When you have multiple Scrum teams working on 1 product, then there should be a shared understanding of what done means. 


10:54 am May 23, 2017

It isn't a contradiction at all. Generally speaking the DoD differs between Scrum Teams. Only when multiple Scrum Teams work together on the same system or product release (n.b. this is not always the case) the DoDs need to be mutually agreed upon (and still only applies to the teams working on this, not any other of the thousands of Scrum Teams in existence ;) ).


06:06 am May 24, 2017

Scrum Team DoD = Nexus DoD + Optional DoD criteria w.r.t Scrum Team's work (If that makes sense)


06:13 am May 24, 2017

If you use Nexus, that is ;-)


09:22 am April 6, 2018

As I interpret this. The teams probably have different Definitions of Done for backlog items, but share a DoD for the increment. Without that it would be kinda hard to say when the increment is done.

Since there could be more mature teams collaborating on a product with less mature teams, it makes sense that their DoDs pertaining to backlog items differ.


08:58 am April 7, 2018

Where different teams are working on the same product, they must observe a common Definition of Done which qualifies the releasability of each integrated increment.

The Definition of Done observed by an individual team should reinforce and not contradict any shared Definition for such a release-quality product increment. For example, a team may incorporate a shared DoD as a subset of their own.

Remember it may also be necessary to incorporate an organizational understanding of what “Done” means, irrespective of the product being built.


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