I. Definition of Ready (DoR)
The team share the explicit and visible the criterias (generally based on the INVESTmatrix) that a user story must meet prior to being accepted into the upcoming iteration.
These considerations are often summarized as the “INVEST criteria”, and they provide us with a useful Definition of Ready which can be applied to Product Backlog Items.
- I (Independent). The PBI should be self-contained and it should be possible to bring it into progress without a dependency upon another PBI or an external resource.
- N (Negotiable). A good PBI should leave room for discussion regarding its optimal implementation.
- V (Valuable). The value a PBI delivers to stakeholders should be clear.
- E (Estimable). A PBI must have a size relative to other PBIs.
- S (Small). PBIs should be small enough to estimate with reasonable accuracy and to plan into a time-box such as a Sprint.
- T (Testable). Each PBI should have clear acceptance criteria which allow its satisfaction to be tested.
II. Common DoR
1. PBI Priority is clear and up to date
2. All PBI information is stored, tracked, documented and updated in TFS
3. BPI
- If PBI is a Simple task (Add/change label, field …) :
- Simple description
- Visible in TFS as Task attached to an Improvement PBI
- If PBI is a User Story:
- Value (reason behind) as an immediately understandable text description or an improvement over something
- User and/or affected user is know and identified
- Detailed Description : easy to understand, clear, user confirmed (or user validated if needed)
- Mockups (or detailed UX/UI for new features for instance) : easy to understand, clear, user confirmed (or user validated if needed)
- Process change (or detailed Diagram/Flow for deep process change for instance) : easy to understand, clear, user confirmed (or user validated if needed)
- Acceptance Criteria : available for happy cases and written as expected outcomes (or ideally test cases), easy to understand, clear, user confirmed (or user validated if needed)
4. Size
- Size is available with points
- Can be implemented in one sprint
- Sizing is comparable to other PBI size in the backlog (In case size is very different, the team helps the PO for a break down)
5. Dependencies
- Are understood and known with a risk assessment and potential impact
- There is no blocking point identified