Definition of Ready (DoR)

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Introduction

The Definition of Ready (DoR) defines the minimum conditions a User Story (US) must meet to be taken into development.

A User Story is considered Ready when it is:

  • understood by the team
  • sufficiently detailed to be developed
  • testable
  • actionable without major blockers

Ready Criteria

A User Story is considered Ready when the following conditions are met:

1. Refinement completed

  • The User Story has been presented and discussed during a refinement session
  • Identified questions have been answered or a clear action plan is defined

2. Business value is explicit

  • The business or user value is clearly described
  • The team understands the purpose of the User Story

3. Acceptance criteria are defined

  • Acceptance criteria are present
  • They are clear, specific, and testable

4. Design elements are available

  • Mockups, wireframes, or Figma elements are available when required

5. Shared understanding

  • The development team considers it has enough information to start working
  • Major technical risks or uncertainties have been identified

Non-goals of the DoR

The DoR does not cover:

  • quality requirements (Definition of Done)
  • CI, security, or performance validations
  • project management aspects (priority, sizing, dependencies)

These elements are defined in:

  • the Definition of Done (DoD)
  • the GitHub Project

Principle

A User Story does not need to be perfect to be considered Ready.

It must be sufficiently clear to allow the team to start development without major blockers or functional ambiguity.

See also: Definition of Done (DoD)