Definition of Ready (DoR) is the checklist a story must meet before the team commits to it in a sprint; Definition of Done (DoD) is the checklist a story must meet before it can be called complete. DoR guards the entry to the sprint; DoD guards the exit.
These two agreements bookend a story's life and both have strong QA relevance. A story meeting the DoR is well-formed and workable: it has clear acceptance criteria, dependencies identified, is estimated, and — a key QA item — is testable with a test approach understood. Enforcing the DoR prevents the team from pulling in half-baked stories that inevitably stall or generate defects. The DoD defines what 'complete' really means and almost always includes testing conditions: acceptance criteria verified, tests written and passing, no known critical defects, automation updated, code reviewed. QA is a primary stakeholder in the DoD because 'done' must mean 'done and verified', not merely 'code merged'. The most common Agile dysfunction — marking stories done when they're only code-complete — is precisely a DoD failure, and a strong, enforced DoD that includes testing is QA's guardrail against it.
A team keeps carrying 'done' stories into the next sprint because bugs surface after the demo. They strengthen the DoD to require 'all acceptance criteria tested and passing, automation updated, zero known high-severity defects'. Now a story literally cannot be marked done until it's verified, and the carry-over of hidden bugs stops.
| Checklist | Definition Of Ready | Definition Of Done |
|---|---|---|
| When it applies | Before committing to the sprint | Before marking the story complete |
| Purpose | Ensure the story is workable | Ensure the story is truly finished |
| Typical QA items | Clear, testable acceptance criteria; test approach understood; dependencies known | Acceptance criteria verified; tests written & passing; no critical defects; automation updated |
| Consequence if skipped | Half-baked stories stall or breed defects | 'Done' work is actually untested and buggy |
Scenario: Your team's velocity looks great on paper, but a third of 'completed' stories reopen next sprint with bugs, and stakeholders are losing trust in the 'done' label. You suspect a Definition of Done problem. How do you diagnose and fix it?