Definition of Done Checklist | Quality Criteria
Know when work is truly complete, not just coded. GitScrum's task checklists and workflow rules ensure consistent quality and prevent incomplete work.
8 min read
"Done" means more than "code complete." GitScrum helps teams define and track completion criteria so work is truly finished.
Definition of Done
Standard Checklist
TEAM DEFINITION OF DONE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ A STORY IS DONE WHEN: │
│ │
│ CODE: │
│ ☐ Code written and self-reviewed │
│ ☐ Code follows team style guide │
│ ☐ No known tech debt introduced │
│ ☐ No hard-coded values or secrets │
│ │
│ TESTING: │
│ ☐ Unit tests written and passing │
│ ☐ Integration tests passing │
│ ☐ Manual testing completed │
│ ☐ Edge cases covered │
│ ☐ No regression in existing features │
│ │
│ REVIEW: │
│ ☐ Code review completed (at least 1 reviewer) │
│ ☐ Review comments addressed │
│ ☐ Reviewer approved │
│ │
│ DOCUMENTATION: │
│ ☐ Code comments where needed │
│ ☐ API documentation updated (if applicable) │
│ ☐ User documentation updated (if user-facing) │
│ ☐ README updated (if setup changes) │
│ │
│ DEPLOYMENT: │
│ ☐ Merged to main branch │
│ ☐ CI/CD pipeline passing │
│ ☐ Deployed to staging │
│ ☐ Verified working in staging │
│ │
│ ACCEPTANCE: │
│ ☐ Acceptance criteria met │
│ ☐ PO reviewed and approved │
│ │
│ ALL ITEMS MUST BE CHECKED FOR "DONE" │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Levels of Done
DONE AT DIFFERENT LEVELS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TASK DONE: │
│ ───────── │
│ Individual task completed within a story │
│ ☐ Task work completed │
│ ☐ Committed to feature branch │
│ │
│ STORY DONE: │
│ ────────── │
│ User story fully implemented │
│ ☐ All tasks complete │
│ ☐ Full DoD checklist met │
│ ☐ Acceptance criteria verified │
│ ☐ Ready for demo │
│ │
│ SPRINT DONE: │
│ ─────────── │
│ Sprint increment potentially shippable │
│ ☐ All committed stories done │
│ ☐ No critical bugs │
│ ☐ Release notes updated │
│ ☐ Demo ready │
│ │
│ RELEASE DONE: │
│ ──────────── │
│ Ready for production │
│ ☐ All features done │
│ ☐ Performance tested │
│ ☐ Security reviewed │
│ ☐ Documentation complete │
│ ☐ Stakeholder sign-off │
│ ☐ Deployment plan ready │
│ │
│ EACH LEVEL BUILDS ON PREVIOUS │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Task Checklists
Embedded Checklists
TASK WITH DOD CHECKLIST:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ STORY-123: Add password reset functionality │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA: ││
│ │ ☑ User can request reset from login page ││
│ │ ☑ Email sent with reset link ││
│ │ ☑ Link expires after 24 hours ││
│ │ ☑ User can set new password ││
│ │ ││
│ │ DEFINITION OF DONE: ││
│ │ ☑ Code reviewed by @senior-dev ││
│ │ ☑ Unit tests (coverage: 85%) ││
│ │ ☑ Integration tests passing ││
│ │ ☑ Manual testing completed ││
│ │ ☐ Deployed to staging ││
│ │ ☐ Verified on staging ││
│ │ ☐ PO approved ││
│ │ ││
│ │ STATUS: In Review (5/7 done) ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ CANNOT MOVE TO "DONE" UNTIL ALL CHECKED │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Type-Specific DoD
DOD BY WORK TYPE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ FEATURE DoD: │
│ Standard DoD + : │
│ ☐ Feature flag created (if applicable) │
│ ☐ Analytics events added │
│ ☐ Accessibility verified │
│ ☐ Mobile responsive │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ BUG FIX DoD: │
│ Standard DoD + : │
│ ☐ Root cause identified and documented │
│ ☐ Test added to prevent regression │
│ ☐ Original reporter notified │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ API CHANGE DoD: │
│ Standard DoD + : │
│ ☐ API documentation updated │
│ ☐ Changelog entry added │
│ ☐ Backward compatibility verified (or breaking noted) │
│ ☐ Client teams notified if breaking │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ INFRASTRUCTURE DoD: │
│ Standard DoD + : │
│ ☐ Runbook updated │
│ ☐ Monitoring/alerting configured │
│ ☐ Rollback plan documented │
│ ☐ Cost impact reviewed │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Evolving DoD
Improving Definition
DOD EVOLUTION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DoD SHOULD EVOLVE WITH TEAM: │
│ │
│ STARTING TEAM (Minimal): │
│ ☐ Code written │
│ ☐ Tested manually │
│ ☐ Code reviewed │
│ ☐ Merged │
│ │
│ ↓ After 3 months, add: │
│ │
│ MATURING TEAM: │
│ ☐ Code written │
│ ☐ Unit tests passing │
│ ☐ Code reviewed │
│ ☐ Merged │
│ ☐ Deployed to staging │
│ ☐ QA verified │
│ │
│ ↓ After 6 months, add: │
│ │
│ MATURE TEAM: │
│ ☐ Code written (style guide followed) │
│ ☐ Unit + integration tests passing │
│ ☐ Code review approved │
│ ☐ Merged to main │
│ ☐ CI/CD pipeline green │
│ ☐ Deployed to staging │
│ ☐ QA verified │
│ ☐ Documentation updated │
│ ☐ PO accepted │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ RETRO QUESTION: │
│ "Is our DoD catching issues before production?" │
│ "What should we add or remove?" │
│ │
│ DON'T: Add everything at once │
│ DO: Incrementally add as team capacity grows │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Common Gaps
What Gets Missed
DOD ANTI-PATTERNS:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ "ALMOST DONE": │
│ ───────────── │
│ "Code is done, just needs testing" │
│ "Done except for code review" │
│ "Merged, but not deployed yet" │
│ │
│ FIX: None of these are done │
│ All DoD items must be complete │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ "DONE BUT...": │
│ ────────────── │
│ "Done but there's a small bug" │
│ "Done but tests are flaky" │
│ "Done but docs aren't updated" │
│ │
│ FIX: Not done, move back to In Progress │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ DOD SHORTCUTS: │
│ ───────────── │
│ "Let's skip code review for this one" │
│ "We'll add tests later" │
│ "Docs can wait until next sprint" │
│ │
│ FIX: DoD is non-negotiable │
│ If can't meet DoD, don't commit to story │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ INVISIBLE WORK: │
│ ────────────── │
│ Work not on the board │
│ "Just a quick fix" │
│ "It's too small to track" │
│ │
│ FIX: All work on board, all work meets DoD │
│ No invisible work │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Enforcing DoD
DOD ENFORCEMENT:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ WORKFLOW RULES: │
│ │
│ GitScrum can enforce: │
│ • Can't move to Done without checklist complete │
│ • Required fields before status change │
│ • Automated checks (CI passing, approvals) │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ PEER ACCOUNTABILITY: │
│ │
│ In standup: │
│ "Is STORY-123 actually done?" │
│ "Did we complete all DoD items?" │
│ │
│ In demo: │
│ "All stories shown meet our DoD" │
│ "Deployed to staging and verified" │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ DOD AUDIT (Monthly): │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ DOD-AUDIT: January Compliance Review ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Stories completed: 24 ││
│ │ Full DoD compliance: 22 (92%) ││
│ │ Partial compliance: 2 (8%) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ GAPS FOUND: ││
│ │ • STORY-145: Missing integration tests ││
│ │ • STORY-152: Docs not updated ││
│ │ ││
│ │ ACTION: ││
│ │ • Discuss in retro ││
│ │ • Add missing items ││
│ │ • Remind team of importance ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘