Why Work Is Not “Done” In Scrum, And Why The Acceptance Criteria Is Not Met?

[Mrugesh Panchal]

Perhaps the most important aspect of scrum methodology is the concept of “Done” or meeting the acceptance criteria while developing the tasks. The product owner, who represents the interests of the stakeholders, approves and certifies the acceptance criteria defined in individual user stories, or the product backlog items. It is very much important for the user stories to be accepted as “Done” because in scrum an item can only be considered as “shippable” and “complete” when its “Done” criteria is met. The terminology used to describe “Done” is synonymous with the acceptance criteria in scrum methodology. The words describe the same thing.

 There are times when the acceptance criterion is not met, and the user stories are not considered as complete. This can be the worst possible scenario as far as conducting the daily sprint is concerned, since the basic objective of the sprint cycle is to meet the acceptance criteria and deliver a shippable product at the end of the iteration. Unaccepted and unfinished user stories reflect unsuccessful sprints and improper implementation of scrum.

 It is worth knowing about some scenarios, which can result in a condition when the “Done” criterion is not fulfilled in scrum. Read more on http://blog.quickscrum.com/post/2014/03/19/The-Main-Reasons-Why-Work-Is-Not-%E2%80%9CDone%E2%80%9D-In-Scrum-And-Why-The-Acceptance-Criteria-Is-Not-Met.aspx