“- Come daughter, let’s have lunch!

– Is it done, Dad?

– Almost done.

– Then it’s not done!

I laughed. As if it was the spell turning against the wizard because the main character in this speech was Pietra, my daughter, when she was 4 years old.

How many times do we face similar situations? We try to speed up some processes, which can lead to unnecessary waiting and consequent delays, making it impossible for us to keep the focus on other subjects that could be more important.

Being done is no longer something commonplace, without much importance, and it starts to play an important role in the routine of those who work with some agile method, since it helps to ensure the quality of deliveries. In Scrum, for example, it is called the “definition of done” and is used “to check whether the (…) product is finished” (SCHWABER and SUTHERLAND, 2017, p. 20). For something to be defined as done, be it a part, an increase that can be used, or a complete final product, it is necessary that the people participating in its construction (team, dev team or development team) have a consensus on what “being done” is, or everyone will understand it in a different way, and in the end the expression “but I thought it was fine!” may arise.

If there is some internal or market standard of what that delivery should contain, or if that definition of done “is part of the conventions, standards or guidelines of the development organization” (ibidem), the team can guide itself through them. Otherwise, it must reach a consensus and define. A good parameter is to be guided by the customer’s inputs (in Scrum this information comes from the Product Owner) and this decision together ensures transparency in the process. It is always worth remembering that the definition of done needs to be established at the beginning of the planning of each development cycle (in sprint planning) and for each item to be worked on, but it can be reviewed and improved before the next developments.

Is a done delivery then a tested and approved product (or enhancement)? Can’t a comma be out of place? It depends. If we are developing a rocket launch system and we don’t want everything to explode, it’s better to keep the commas in place, because otherwise we may be surprised with a less positive result. But if it doesn’t affect delivery and is able to adjust quickly in the next cycle without compromising it, maybe.

Guide yourself with a checklist to check that all the pre-set points have been met. And next time you think about how to make a delivery, consider some of these points – especially when calling your daughter for lunch!”

Leonardo Magalhães

PROJECT MANAGER

Bibliographic Reference:

SCHWABER, Ken; SUTHERLAND, Jeff. Scrum Guide: O guia definitivo para o Scrum. 2017. Available on: https://www.scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v2017/2017-Scrum-Guide-US.pdf. Access on: 14 Oct. 2020.