

DEFINITION OF DONE TEMPLATE SOFTWARE
Here’s the key question: as you’re aligning your organization and developing your Definition of Done, should it include developer documentation?Įven considering the huge advantages of developer documentation, the truth is that most software development organizations will likely not feel they’re ready yet to prioritize developer documentation to include it in the DoD. Should the Definition of Done include developer documentation? Therefore establishing a definition of what qualifies as “done” should ideally be a collaborative process among engineering/dev teams, product, QA, and other stakeholders. It cannot simply focus on building usable software it must be aligned with the overall organization’s needs, goals, and core values. Once a backlog item is accepted as “done”, the chance that it will need to be reworked is reduced, and required (non-critical) updates can be moved into the backlog.Įngineering managers are key players in defining “done” because most of what comprises the Definition of Done revolves around technical requirements.īut defining “done” doesn’t happen in a vacuum. A clear DoD limits the risk of misunderstanding and conflict among the dev team and product owners.

So, your dev team can focus on innovation and execution rather than definition. A clear DoD provides a framework for defining the tasks required for each work unit.

It avoids repetitive conversation and redefinition.When dev teams know ahead of time what is expected in terms of testing, documentation, and deployments, they can more accurately size backlog items and plan accordingly. It provides a baseline for sprint planning.Having a clearly defined Definition of Done is important for many reasons:
DEFINITION OF DONE TEMPLATE SERIES
Best practice usually translates the DoD to a series of templates or checklists, each relevant for a different work unit. The Definition of Done is generally viewed as a shared understanding of what work must be completed for a work unit (user story, sprint, feature) to be considered releasable to customers. While most dev teams, product managers, and project managers encounter the concept of “done” every day, it’s worth taking a step back and defining what it means in the context of scrum. So, all of this leads us to the next logical question: if developer documentation is so important, should we be including it in the Definition of Done (DoD)? Defining the definition: what is the Definition of Done? The impact of documentation in building trust and creating a strong organizational culture gives it added importance in the context of onboarding new developers and maintaining ongoing internal information flow. According to GitHub’s report, developers see about a 50% productivity boost with easy-to-source documentation.Īnd, while such an overwhelming productivity increase is good enough reason on its own to start prioritizing documentation, the report goes on to indicate that documentation has even greater benefits. There’s been much discussion, especially over the last year, about developer documentation: is it important, how important, and in which context.Īnd while we at Swimm have always known that documentation is important, GitHub’s 2021 State of the Octoverse report answered these questions in no uncertain terms: Yes, developer documentation is important.
