Definition of done
Table of Contents
Summary
In agile practice, the definition of done is the shared checklist that says when work is genuinely complete — not "code written" but tested, integrated, documented, releasable. It exists so that "done" means the same thing to everyone, and so that progress reports are made of facts rather than optimism.
In ORE Studio, a definition of done is the explicit, checkable set
of criteria a piece of work must satisfy before it may transition to
DONE — agreed before the work starts, not negotiated after it
finishes. Every
planning document in the lifecycle carries one, at its own
altitude: a task's and a story's * Acceptance section, a
sprint's closure conditions, and a version's Definition of
done. Without one, DONE is a feeling; with one, it is a check.
Detail
What it is
A definition of done turns intent into a contract. It is written when
the document is created — during sprint planning for stories and
tasks, at version opening for versions — and it is what the DONE
transition is checked against. Two properties matter:
- Checkable: each criterion can be verified by reading, running, or measuring something. "Improve the docs" is not checkable; "the manual chapter covers every dialog field" is.
- Agreed up front: the criteria predate the work. Moving the goalposts mid-flight is an explicit edit with a reason, visible in the document's history — not a silent reinterpretation at close time.
Where each document carries it
| Document | Where the definition of done lives |
|---|---|
| Task | * Acceptance — and the task contract's done rules: PR merged, * Result filled. |
| Story | * Acceptance — re-read at close; every task resolved (see the story contract). |
| Sprint | The closure conditions: every story closed, retrospective filled, release notes if applicable. |
| Version | An explicit Definition of done on the version page; meeting it is what closes the version. |
Why it is mandatory
- It gates the lifecycle. The
BACKLOG → ... → DONEmachine is only honest ifDONEhas an objective meaning; the definition of done is that meaning. - It protects the charts and reviews. The sprint health charts count story transitions and the health reviews reason about them; both are garbage-in-garbage-out without real done criteria.
- It makes hand-offs cheap. Any agent or human can pick up, finish, or audit work without re-deriving what "finished" was supposed to mean.
See also
- Agile process — the loop these documents move through.
- Lifecycle — the state machine the definition of done gates.
- Document types — the per-type contracts, including each type's required sections.