Ready

⏱ 2 min  ·  📅 2026

The term ready (also expressed as DoR or Definition of Ready) is applied to a user story to indicate that the Product Owner and the team agree that it is in a fit state to be included in a sprint.

Common criteria

The criteria usually used to determine whether a story is ready are:

• The story is defined to a level of quality acceptable to the Product Owner and the team.
• The team has estimated its size.
• It is independent and can be developed within a single sprint.
• It has defined acceptance criteria, as well as the person who will accept it.

The set of criteria is decided by each team. There is no universal list: what matters is that it be explicit, known by everyone, and open to review in the retrospective.

Practical example

Story: "As a user, I want to recover my password"

• Defined: flow described with a wireframe.
• Estimated: 3 story points.
• Independent: does not depend on other stories.
• Criteria: email sent in less than 30 seconds, link valid for 24 hours.

DoR in teams working with AI

When the team uses generative AI tools in development, the definition of "ready" may require additional criteria that traditional stories did not need.

Some criteria that teams are incorporating into their DoR when working with AI:

• Data available: if the story involves an AI model or pipeline, the training data or test examples are accessible before the sprint starts.
• Evaluation criteria defined: for stories with an AI component, the acceptance criteria include output quality metrics (accuracy, consistency, absence of relevant hallucinations) agreed with the Product Owner.
• Prompt or instruction reviewed: if the story involves designing a prompt or configuring an assistant, the team has reviewed a preliminary version before including it in the sprint.
• Clear human accountability: it is defined who reviews and validates the AI-generated output before it is considered deliverable.

Adding these criteria to the DoR prevents the team from starting AI-related work without the necessary information, which leads to mid-sprint blockers that are hard to resolve.

Common mistake

Confusing "ready" with "perfectly specified". A story does not need to be fully detailed to be ready: it needs enough clarity for the team to develop it within a sprint without blockers. Excessive upfront specification is a symptom of predictive, not agile, management.

Relationship with the Definition of Done

"Ready" (DoR) and "Definition of Done" (DoD) are the two ends of a story's life cycle: the DoR defines when it can enter a sprint; the DoD defines when it can be considered done. Both are agreed upon by the team and should be reviewed periodically in the retrospective.

Resources

🏦 Skill User storiesState of the art and development guide · Skill Arena

📄 Product Owner v.2.0Free download · Scrum Manager

📄Scrum Master v.4.0 — Section: Product Backlog and readiness criteriaFree download · Scrum Manager

📄 Scrum Master in teams with AI v.1.0Free download · Scrum Manager

References

• Derby, Esther; Larsen, Diana. (2006). Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. Pragmatic Bookshelf.
• Rubin, Kenneth S. (2012). Essential Scrum: A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process. Addison-Wesley.

See also

User story Definition of Done INVEST Acceptance criteria Sprint Product Owner Backlog refinement

Do you want to move forward in agility? You can look for course and exam calls or go at your own pace by becoming a member of the Agile Club. This membership includes exclusive resources, e-learning classrooms, and access to Skill Arena: a space to practice and measure your agile skills at your own pace.

Find calls

Agile Club