Definition of Ready vs Definition of Done

Definition of Done (DoD) is a formal description of the state of an increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. It is part of Scrum, and an item that does not meet it cannot be released or even presented as done. Examples: code reviewed, tests passing, documentation updated, deployed to a staging environment.

Definition of Ready (DoR) is a checklist a team may agree on for when a backlog item is clear enough to be pulled into a Sprint, for example: the value is understood, acceptance criteria exist, dependencies are known, and the item is small enough to finish in one Sprint. It is a common practice, but it is not part of the Scrum Guide.

The DoD describes quality at the end of the work, while the DoR describes clarity at the start. Use the DoR as a guide, not a rigid gate that blocks discussion, because that turns Scrum into a handoff process.