What is Ready in a DoR? Rationales, Responsibility & Rules in using a Definition of Ready

Mark van Riesen, Gerard Wagenaar*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In agile software development, a Definition of Ready (DoR) is used to indicate conditions a Product Backlog Item (PBI) has to meet before accepting it into a Sprint Backlog. This research aims (1) to identify those conditions, (2) to investigate why Scrum teams do or do not use a DoR, and (3) to identify which (Scrum) role is responsible for drafting a DoR. Research questions are answered by a literature review and interviews with Scrum team members. Results show that conditions vary, but common elements are include INVEST criteria, clearly defining, and prioritizing a PBI. Reasons to use a DoR include a positive impact on workflow, like an efficient process or increased quality of software. Teams might not use a DoR, because of overhead of writing it or encouraging a less ‘agile way of thinking’. Both Product Owner and Scrum Master can be involved in defining and maintaining a DoR, and it is considered good practice to involve all team members. Our findings also reveal that use of a DoR is not intuitive per se.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationREFSQ-JP 2024
Subtitle of host publicationJoint Proceedings of REFSQ-2024 Workshops, Doctoral Symposium, Posters & Tools Track, and Education and Training Track co-located with the 30th International Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality (REFSQ 2024)
EditorsDaniel Mendez, Ana Moreira, Jennifer Horkoff, Thorsten Weyer, Maya Daneva, Michael Unterkalmsteiner, Stan Buhne, Jennifer Hehn, Birgit Penzenstadler, Oscar Dieste, Nelly Condori-Fernandez, Renata Guizzardi, Khan Mohammad Habibullah, Anna Perini, Angelo Susi, Sallam Abualhaija, Chetan Arora, Davide Dell'Anna, Alessio Ferrari, Sepideh Ghanavati, Fabiano Dalpiaz, Jan-Philipp Steghofer, Alexander Rachmann, Jens Gulden, Andrea Muller, Martina Beck, Dominik Birkmeier, Andrea Herrmann, Patrick Mennig, Kurt Schneider
PublisherCEUR WS
Pages1-5
Number of pages5
Publication statusPublished - 8 Apr 2024
Event2024 Joint International Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality Workshops, Doctoral Symposium, Posters and Tools Track, and Education and Training Track, REFSQ-JP 2024 - Winterthur, Switzerland
Duration: 8 Apr 202411 Apr 2024

Publication series

NameCEUR Workshop Proceedings
Volume3672
ISSN (Print)1613-0073

Conference

Conference2024 Joint International Conference on Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality Workshops, Doctoral Symposium, Posters and Tools Track, and Education and Training Track, REFSQ-JP 2024
Country/TerritorySwitzerland
CityWinterthur
Period8/04/2411/04/24

Keywords

  • Agile Software Development
  • Definition of Ready
  • DoR
  • Scrum
  • User story
  • INVEST criteria 1

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