In another post I wrote about the “Definition of Done” — those team-set criteria that determine when a completed task counts as an “increment” in Scrum. An increment is just a new puzzle piece that’s found its place.
Scrum doesn’t specifically demand a “Definition of Ready.” Tasks can have individual acceptance criteria, but nothing project-wide. The Scrum creators didn’t want to complicate things more than necessary. Still worth thinking about what should be in place before diving into work.
The briefing bottleneck
Anyone who’s worked on complex projects knows how crucial good briefings are. My experience? Briefings are often unclear.
I used to try extracting the best from whatever briefing I got. Now I play back a “debriefing” of the briefing. Something like: Thanks for the briefing. To deliver this on time and at the quality you want, I need the following information and materials by xx.xx.2021: 1.), 2.) and 3.).
Materials aren’t always delivered by the deadline. Then you face decisions: start anyway or wait for everything? Usually I start. Don’t want to leave anyone hanging.
Mostly this works. Sometimes you end up in unpleasant situations through no fault of your own.
Suicide missions rarely pay off
You’re just trying to save the situation, help out short-term. What happens when the result disappoints? Many clients suddenly forget the materials were incomplete. You become the scapegoat.
My tip: Flag early via email that quality might suffer. You’ll often still get blamed, but at least you won’t feel as bad about it.
If you have similar projects, write a checklist of what should be present before starting. Anyone who doesn’t appreciate this professional, transparent communication doesn’t deserve to be your client anyway.
So — are you ready for the “Definition of Ready”?
This post first appeared in German on reinergaertner.de, where I’ve been writing since 1997 — back when the internet still had that new-car smell. An AI assistant helped with the translation under my supervision. If something reads a bit odd, blame the Denglish in my head.