See the Different Levels of Done

You may have heard about “done,” “done-done,” and “done-done-done.” Let’s unpack those phrases.

People talk about “done” for a story being done. They use “done-done” for an iteration. They use “done-done-done” for a release. I don’t find that differentiation helpful. I want the product to be releasable at any time. I want no friction for releasing.

But what about when the product owner accepts the story? Is that some other form of done? It depends on your board. If your board ends before the product owner accepts the story, you might call stories that the team thinks are done “done.” Once the product owner accepts the story, you might call those stories “done-done.” And if a story is accepted for a release, you might call that “done-done-done.”

I think all these “done”s are a bit overdone. One way to manage the done problem is to define the Done column of your board as follows:

• The story meets the story-acceptance criteria. Consider adding acceptance criteria that discuss the larger environment for the story.

• The story meets the team’s agreements for technical excellence.

• The product owner has accepted the story.

If the story meets all these criteria, the story is really done.