Scrum Teams don’t set the bar for quality—they meet it. The Definition of Done (DoD) isn’t a wishlist or a stretch goal. It’s a hard line that determines what is releasable. And if your DoD isn’t improving Sprint over Sprint, you’re accumulating risk and technical debt.
Too many teams treat DoD as negotiable. It’s not. It’s governance. It ensures predictability, manages risk, and protects revenue. A weak or fluctuating DoD means your organisation has no real control over quality.
If someone suggests lowering the DoD to “deliver more features,” ask them to get it in writing from the financial director—because that’s not a technical decision, it’s a financial and risk decision.
Your Definition of Done should never be static, but always evolving to maximise the quality. Anything less is dysfunction.
How often is your team strengthening its DoD?
If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Slaughter and May
Boeing
Workday
Big Data for Humans
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Qualco
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
DFDS
Illumina
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
NIT A/S
Boxit Document Solutions
ALS Life Sciences
Jack Links
Teleplan
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.
Alignment Healthcare
Lean SA
Washington Department of Transport
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Nottingham County Council
Royal Air Force
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Boxit Document Solutions
Deliotte
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
Emerson Process Management
Jack Links
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)