Definition of Ready:An Experience Report from Teams at Cisco

XP 2014

學號 :103522093學生 :鄭博仁

Goals of Definition of Ready

What Is Definition of Ready?• Definition of Ready is a set of agreements that

define what ready means for a backlog item• the definition of ready is a checklist of the types of

work• “ready” does not mean the user story or feature

must be 100% defined;• it needs to be “ready enough” so that the team is

confident they can successfully deliver the user story

Teams Using Kanban or Flow-Based Methods

The Lifecycle of Backlog Items

About Cisco

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Definition of Ready in Cisco

• The baseline Definition of Ready has three main elements

1. Definition of Ready for User Stories or other Work Items

2. Definition of Ready for Sprints, Iterations or Time boxes.

3. Definition of Ready for Releases

Definition of Ready for User Stories or other Work Items• User Story defined• User Story Acceptance Criteria defined• User Story dependencies identified• User Story sized by Delivery Team• User Experience artifacts are Done, and reviewed

by the Team• Team has reviewed the User Story• Team knows what it will mean to demo the User

Story

Definition of Ready for a Sprint, Iteration or Time box• All User Stories meet Definition of Ready• The Sprint/Iteration/Time box goals are defined,

understood and agreed• The Sprint/Iteration/Time box Backlog contains all

defects, User Stories and other work that the team is committing to, with no hidden work• All team members have noted their capacity for the

Iteration• Capacity is filled to no more than 70% so there is

some room to adapt

Definition of Ready for a Release• The Release has been categorized as ‘Fixed

Scope’ or ‘Fixed Date’ but not both• The Release Backlog is prepared• Work is sized• Work is prioritized• Market Value is understood and

communicated• The Release Themes are identified• The MVO (Minimal Viable Offer) is identified• The MVO is not the full target release

content, i.e., allow scope for negotiation• Release Planning has taken place, and the

team has been involved • Team and Product Owners agree the

Release Plan is a realistic forecast• Risk analysis is under way

• Continuous Improvement items• Quality targets are defined• The team’s capacity is not planned to 100%• Capacity is planned for multiple different

areas• New feature work, fixing defects, reducing

Quality Debt, reducing• Architecture changes are understood• Communication and Coordination model is

defined• Means of tracking progress is understood• Lessons learned from previous Release

Retrospective have been incorporated• Playtime / Innovation time is included in the

Release Plan• Celebrations are included in the Release

Plan

Consequences of Not Being Ready• wasted time• wasted energy• frustration• working on the wrong things• forced rework

Conclusions

• Neglecting Definition of Ready creates waste and impediments to flow in teams and organizations. The larger the teams and organization, and the larger the products they are creating, the more there is potential for harmful waste.• Use Definition of Ready to bring a focus to Backlog

Grooming meetings and Look-Ahead planning activities.• Product Owners can use it as a guide when preparing user

stories for upcoming Sprints.• Teams can use it as a checklist to make sure that they have

an increased chance of success in delivering the completed user story