Use the Definition of Done as an enabling constraint

Description

Where multiple teams have a collective responsibility to increment a Product Increment, they should work to a shared Definition of Done (DoD) to improve transparency, inter-team collaboration, sustained quality and predictability.

• The DoD applies to the Product Increment.
• There may be team-specific DoD elements where there is high diversity between the team's respective delivery technologies. However, ensure that there are appropriate shared DoD elements to sufficiently cover the successful functional and quality aspects of the integrated whole.
• The scope of the Product Increment should provide end-to-end value.

Rationale

There are a number of benefits to using a broader Definition of Done in a multi-team endeavour:

• Widen the perspective of all involved teams to the broader mission and remind them that they win or lose as a collective.
• Increase transparency and quality of their planning to incorporate concerns relevant to the integrated whole Product Increment.
• Reduce the risks and problems caused by poor assumptions.
• Increase the level of trust and understanding between interdependent teams.
• Helps identify interdependent Product backlog Items.
• Using joint workshops to create and evolve the Definition of Done, increases the breadth and depth understanding of the technical challenges.
• Clarifies the scope of team empowerment and boundary within which to self-organise.

Related Principles

• Support autonomy with clear boundaries
• Maximise the Scope of Product Increment
• Invest in quality
• Organise around value streams
• Shared context improves decisions
• Favour Teams with broader Business Domain Accountability
• Favour Teams with broader Solution Accountability
• Self-managed teams
• Maximise Team autonomy
• Limit Team Mental Workload - Contending: a broader Definition of Done could result in too much mental workload for a team. The right balance needs to be found between a broad, enabling Definition of Done and not overloading the teams.