Definition of Ready
Grooming the product backlog should ensure that items at the top of the backlog are ready to be moved into a sprint so that the development team can confidently commit and complete them by the end of a sprint.
Some Scrum teams formalize this idea by establishing a definition of ready. You can think of the definition of ready and the definition of done (see Chapter 4) as two states of product backlog items during a sprint cycle (see Figure 6.10).
Figure 6.10. Definition of ready
Both the definition of done and the definition of ready are checklists of the work that must be completed before a product backlog item can be considered to be in the respective state. An example of a definition-of-ready checklist for product backlog items is given in Table 6.2.
Table 6.2. Example Definition-of-Ready Checklist
Definition of Ready |
|
Business value is clearly articulated. |
|
Details are sufficiently understood by the development team so it can make an informed decision as to whether it can complete the PBI. |
|
Dependencies are identified and no external dependencies would block the PBI from being completed. |
|
Team is staffed appropriately to complete the PBI. |
|
The PBI is estimated and small enough to comfortably be completed in one sprint. |
|
Acceptance criteria are clear and testable. |
|
Performance criteria, if any, are defined and testable. |
|
Scrum team understands how to demonstrate the PBI at the sprint review. |
A strong definition of ready will substantially improve the Scrum team’s chance of successfully meeting its sprint goal.