Agile Methodology helps organizations develop and deliver products smoothly and aids them to build new generation products that contribute to the growth of that industry. Often, Agile team members, stakeholders, users, and many others involved in the product development process may propose ideas that are creative and unique. Few ideas may seem that it is hypothetical and could not be achieved; few may seem vague, and few are very practical. As an Agile leader, it is important to consider every idea as anything could help the product grow in the market. However, Agile does not deal with ambiguity, it helps the team members and the organization to effectively evaluate whether the ideas are achievable and deliverable. A Product Backlog is not just a list of prioritized items, it consists of many other elements which make it more productive and attainable. Definition of Done, Definition of Ready, and Acceptance criteria are a few elements that contribute effectively to making the Product Backlog successful. High-performing companies know the actual importance of these items and utilize them maximally while organizing their Product Backlogs. These elements interplay among each other and boost productivity, and coordination, and minimize the effects of dependencies. In this article, we discuss the Definition of the Ready and Acceptance criteria and know the differences between the two.
Definition of Ready
Definition of Ready is a set of agreements that tells the team whether a specific User Story is ready to begin; more accurately whether that User Story consists of all necessary components which are essential to begin. Definition of Ready gives a sense of perspective as it is the specific portion of the language which helps the team understand if they can do that work. It is one thing to shape the idea in the mind and think of ideas about the product feature, it is another thing to make that idea understood by the team and make them say that it is achievable. Definition of Ready helps the team to know the idea of the User Story in a better way such that they can develop it during the Sprint and not have any confusion during the development process. DoR informs the team when all the conditions are right for the team to begin the Sprint.
A Definition of Ready consists of a narrative and acceptance criteria. The DoR should be clear if there are any specific operational attributes concerning the layout appearance of the user interface design or performance concerning a particular User Story. You could at least have a tentative design on a piece of paper or on a constraint card to have an idea about the specifications.
What is the need for a Definition of Ready?
A Definition of Ready assures that the User Story satisfies all the criteria such that it can be taken into a Sprint. You do not need to 100% define all the aspects of the acceptance criteria. Nevertheless, it should at least be ready enough for the team to be confident so that they can deliver the User Story successfully. The team can save ample time if each of their User Stories meets the Definition of Ready. They can also work on their User Story during the Sprint Planning meeting to bring it into the ‘Ready’ status.
How to design a Definition of Ready?
The INVEST matrix is the best way to design a Definition of Ready. This matrix is as follows:
I - Immediately actionable, the User Story should be such that the team can easily begin the work on the item right away and does not have to wait for any other procedures to be completed.
N- Negotiable, the team should be able to discuss the details of the items in the Product Backlog and how they could be achieved.
V- Value, the User Story selected should produce value to the stakeholders and customers.
E- Estimable, the User Story should be such that the team can estimate or approximate the amount of effort needed to accomplish it.
S- Small, the tasks involved in the Product Backlog item should be small so that the team could complete them in a single Sprint.
T- Testable, the increment created by the Scrum Team could be easily tested.
Each team has its Definition of Ready as it largely depends on the team and the Product Owner. Here are a few examples of Definitions of Ready which would give you a clearer idea.
The User Story should be written according to the format of the ‘User Story’
The team should estimate the story easily
The team needs to understand the acceptance criteria
The team should understand the performance criteria
The way of providing a demo of the features should be understood by the team.
The Definition of Ready should not be stagnant, it should keep growing and developing as the team evolves in terms of the working pace and the team's understanding of what makes a good User Story.
Definition of Ready Examples:
The examples of the Definition of ready could be divided into DoR for User Story and DoR for a Sprint.
Definition of Ready for a User Story:
The team defines the size of the User Story
The User Story should be well defined
The performance criteria should be identified.
The user experience artifacts should be accepted by the Scrum team
The acceptance criteria of the User Story have to be defined
The team member accepting the User Story has to be selected
The team should be able to give a demonstration of the User Story
Definition of Ready for a Sprint
The Sprint Backlog should be prioritized
All the work such as developing User Stories or fixing defects should be contained within the Sprint Backlog
There should not be any hidden work
All the User Stories must meet the Definition of Ready
All the team members should have calculated their capacity for the project.
Acceptance Criteria
User Stories are the foundational artifacts of Agile development. User Stories can be large or small depending on what the team decides to build through the User Story. If a particular Product Backlog item is considered to be too large to fit in a Sprint, it will be broken down into many User Stories and numerous sub-tasks are assigned to them. All User Stories should have a Definition of Done and Acceptance Criteria. Hence, you could see that both of these co-exist in the Scrum development process. The User Story gives the context of the feature the team is supposed to build; the acceptance criteria give guidance about the details of the functionality and how the customer will accept them. Few acceptance criteria would be decided during the Product Backlog refinement meeting before the Sprint begins, and others will be discussed after the Sprint Planning meeting. These are certain attributes of acceptance criteria:
The term applies to an individual Product Backlog item or story
This term is not defined in the Scrum Guide
It is used as a way to communicate to everyone who is involved in the project that all the requirements for a particular User Story have been satisfied.
It is also known as conditions of satisfaction, “test cases”, or acceptance tests.
What are Acceptance Criteria?
Acceptance criteria is a list of activities that need to be completed so that the Product Backlog item could be considered done. This criterion helps the team to estimate, test, and accomplish the work. Although the terms “Acceptance criteria” and Definition of Done may sound similar, they are quite different from each other. In simple words, the acceptance criteria is a list of things which is required to fulfill the needs of the customer whereas the Definition of Done is things that the organization needs. Hence, with both of them on board during a Sprint Plan, a team gets a sense of direction and knows what to do so that their work is considered completed. For instance, let us take a healthcare company that has 10 teams who were not writing acceptance criteria. In their first few Sprints, they were not able to complete the work and were failing to complete their Sprint. The answer for why this was happening was because they did not know what needed to be done for them to know that the Product Backlog item was completed.
Common Pitfalls in Acceptance Criteria
Acceptance criteria should have the ‘what’ element of the project and not the ‘how’ element. As in, it should only be clear about what needs to be done such that the work is considered as done. It should not dictate the techniques which are supposed to be used to get that work done. When they know how things are supposed to be done, it eliminates creativity from the team and the potential of the team could not be tapped. One good analogy of this could be that when you go bowling in a bowling alley, you know what you are supposed to do but then the techniques to knock the pins down could be different for each person. However, everyone just knows what needs to be done, but how they are supposed to do is left to them. They can use their creativity and find out new techniques to knock the pins down and score points for their team. A similar thing is also in the product development process where Developers know what they need to accomplish and take their path to complete it.
Acceptance Criteria Goals
To clarify the things the team needs to build before they begin working
To ensure that everyone has a common understanding of the problem
To help the team members know that the Product Backlog item is complete
To help the team verify stories through automated tests.
Example of an Acceptance Criteria
User Story: As a user, I want to register online so that I can start shopping on the website.
Acceptance Criteria:
The user can only submit the form by filling in all the required fields.
The email that the user provides must not be a free email
Submission from the same IP can only be made three times within 30 minutes
Users will receive a notification on the provided email ID after a successful registration.
Conclusion
Definition of Ready and Acceptance Criteria may seem similar but as you have seen they are quite distinct. Both of them are important for the User Story to be developed. By understanding the difference between both terms, developers can effectively work on their product backlog item. If you are a new Agile team, explaining these terms to the Agile team becomes an important part of the introduction. Make sure your team members know the meaning and difference between these terms and efficiently work towards their Sprint and product goals.
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