What Definition of Ready means
A Definition of Ready (DoR) is a shared minimum standard for work entering delivery. It reduces avoidable sprint churn by ensuring the team understands enough to begin responsibly.
DoR is a conversation aid, not a paperwork gate.
Quality-focused readiness criteria
- Business objective understood
- Acceptance criteria clear
- Story small enough
- Dependencies identified
- Data needs known
- Environment impacts known
- Security/NFR impacts considered
- Testability understood
When a story is not ready
Examples include missing business rules, unresolved interface ownership, unknown source data, no test environment, unclear permissions, or a story too large to validate within the sprint.
Return criteria matter
Teams need permission to return insufficiently ready work. If everything must enter the sprint regardless of readiness, the DoR becomes decorative.
Avoid over-engineering
Do not require every story to produce a large document. A concise checklist and disciplined refinement conversation are often sufficient.
Example lightweight DoR
READY when:
✓ Purpose is clear
✓ AC are testable
✓ Dependencies are known
✓ Data/environment needs are understood
✓ Story is sized for the sprint
✓ Major quality/security risks are visible