When are we done?
Tea and toast.
At university I shared a flat with 3 other people, one was Paul. Paul was quite different to me. He liked tea and with lots of milk- it looked more like milk. His toast bordered on what I would call burnt (black carbon deposits) with thick visible layers of butter resembling cheese. To him that was done. To me, very different.
We had a different view of what was done.
Thinking about this in a software delivery context, I like to use this related image or another of "shades of toast" to help frame the conversation of "when are we done" or "what is our definition of done", could be similarly used in the context of "ready".
Why?
Having a common understanding on this as a team is critical- it helps ensure you can finish work and start. It's a clear goal in its own right so you all know what you are working towards. You can agree when to stop.
Starting with this tea/coffee image helps to illustrate the differing views and help converge conversation when applied to a software context. Explore how everyone likes their tea or coffee- but do we have an aligned view one what is done, and if not lets create one...
Prompts
I like to use prompts with teams:
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What single words do you think of when you think of you work as done?
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Who is involved- who is handling the work?
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What different aspects are important to you when reviewing the work?
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When are you happy to release to a customer?
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How does this apply to your workflow / board & the touchpoints?
Other prompts:
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How we review.
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How do we test
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How /when do we document
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Is there anything out of our control?
I've find it helpful to split this into a always/sometimes categories, keeping this succinct enough so its easy to refer to if needed but also not a lengthy list becoming a task in itself to refer to and provide value. Finally agreeing how often you will review this as a team.
Done
Shades of toast:
