Defining Done, Ready, and NO for Distributed Teams

by Luke Hohmann, Joel Bancroft-Connors, David A. Koontz

The Scrum Guide is pretty clear on the criticality of the definition of Done: "When a Product Backlog item or an Increment is described as "Done," everyone must understand what "Done" means. However, the Scrum Guide ALSO says that the definition of Done can "vary significantly per Scrum Team." This lead us to examine when and how the definition of Done should vary, how distributed teams should create their definition of Done, and what other agreements can help the team be productive, including a definition of Ready and a definition of NO.

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Presenter(s)

Luke Hohmann

Luke Hohmann is the founder and CEO of Conteneo Inc. (formerly the Innovation Games® Company). Conteneo’s enterprise software platforms and professional services merge collaboration frameworks, data analytics, and domain expertise to help organizations optimize decision making in the areas of strategy, innovation, sales, product development, and market research. Luke is also cofounder of Every Voice Engaged Foundation (EVEF), a 501(c)3 nonprofit that that helps citizens, governments, and other nonprofit organizations collaborate at scale to solve technical and wicked problems. EVEF has been a leader in the Participatory Budgeting movement, helping citizens prioritize hundreds of millions of dollars through budget games. EVEF has also partnered with the Kettering Foundation to create Common Ground for Action, the first platform for scalable deliberative decision making. Supported by both Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance, Luke is thankful for the thousands of colleagues from the Agile community who have donated their time to EVEF.

Joel Bancroft-Connors

Joel Bancroft-Connors is a professional Gorilla talker, tackling tough issues no one wants to deal with that are killing teams and organizations. He is dedicated to solving challenges associated with enterprise programs and projects. Having worked in such roles as customer support, product management, and program management, Joel understands challenges across the business, helping organizations navigate change while guiding teams to happiness. Joel is a principal consultant with Applied Frameworks, whose mission is helping its clients find the best framework for their success, instead of making an existing framework fit them.

David A. Koontz

David A. Koontz is an Agile Transition Guide for organizations wishing to explore and discover their unique path to Lean/Agile software development. Previously a software engineer with 20+ years developing software solutions within a variety of industries. David uses his experience in group dynamics, systems thinking and the power of the Agile philosophy to unleash a team’s full potential. He enjoys mentoring individuals and coaching teams. David believes in empowering the team with self-organization, setting them on the path to achieve the team's purpose and providing them the proper intrinsic motivation to move the team along the productivity curve toward ultra performance. David has experience teaching Scrum and XP practices to multiple groups that evolved into Agile teams delivering quality software and value to customers.