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?
Smart Classifications
Each classification [Concepts, Categories, & Tags] was assigned using AI-powered semantic analysis and scored across relevance, depth, and alignment. Final decisions? Still human. Always traceable. Hover to see how it applies.
Our Happy Clients
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company)
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Washington Department of Transport
Nottingham County Council
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)
Emerson Process Management
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
