Definition of ready

The definition of ready is the checklist that says a story is sprintable. What a useful one covers, why most get ignored, and the version that actually blocks.

The definition of ready is the team’s checklist for “we can sprint this” — the bar a story clears before it enters sprint planning. Most teams write one in their first retro, paste it in the wiki, and never look at it again. The version that earns its keep is short, explicit, and blocking: a story that fails it doesn’t get committed to.

What a useful checklist covers

  • The user-facing outcome is in one sentence — no “as a…” gymnastics, just what changes.
  • Acceptance criteria fit in three to five bullets.
  • The story is small enough to fit in a sprint with room left over.
  • Dependencies on other teams are identified, and confirmed.
  • If design is needed, it exists.
  • The team has voted on it without spreading more than two card values.

The last item is the load-bearing one. A story that produced a 3-and-13 vote spread doesn’t pass the readiness check. Either refinement explains the gap, or the story splits.

Definition of ready vs definition of done

The definition of ready gates entry into the sprint. The definition of done gates exit from it. They aren’t symmetric — ready is about the story, done is about the work — and conflating them is how teams ship stories that pass their acceptance criteria but still don’t solve the user’s problem.

What goes wrong

The definition of ready becomes a wishlist instead of a gate. Stories enter the sprint without meeting it because “we don’t have anything else to work on.” Two sprints later the team is missing its velocity targets, and the unready stories are the carry-over.

The fix is institutional, not motivational: if there are no ready stories, the team picks up a refinement task, not an unready one. A gate you walk around isn’t a gate. Enforce it once and the backlog starts arriving in better shape, because everyone learns what “ready” costs to skip.

Frequently asked questions

What is the definition of ready?

The definition of ready is the team’s checklist for “we can sprint this” — the bar a story clears before it enters sprint planning. A useful one is short, explicit, and blocking: a story that fails it doesn’t get committed to, it goes back to refinement.

What is the difference between the definition of ready and the definition of done?

The definition of ready gates entry into the sprint; the definition of done gates exit from it. They aren’t symmetric — ready is about the story being well-formed, done is about the finished work being releasable.

What should a definition of ready include?

The user-facing outcome in one sentence, acceptance criteria that fit in three to five bullets, a story small enough to fit a sprint with room to spare, dependencies identified and confirmed, any needed design in place, and a team vote that didn’t spread more than two card values. The last item is the load-bearing one.

Is the definition of ready part of Scrum?

No — the Scrum Guide doesn’t define it, so it’s optional. But most teams that ship predictably use one, because it stops unready stories from being dragged into a sprint and becoming next sprint’s carry-over.