Definition of Ready

AKA “Someone Should’ve Asked This Earlier…”

Dev: What’s this story about?
PO: Vibes.

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You ever pull a user story into Sprint Planning, and halfway through the sprint someone goes:
“Wait… what exactly is this story about again?”

Yeah. That moment?

It’s the sound of your Definition of Ready (DoR) face-planting in real-time.

Let’s break down what “Ready” actually means — and what teams get painfully wrong.

🧩 The Real Role of DoR (It’s Not a Nice-to-Have)

The Definition of Ready is your team’s agreement on what makes a story actionable.

Think of it like boarding a plane:

• 🎫 You need your passport (aka context)
• 🧳 Your bags packed (requirements)
• ✈️ And no giant red flags like “the engine’s missing” (dependencies)

Otherwise? You’re not flying anywhere. You’re just sitting on the tarmac blaming Dev.

❌ What “Ready” Is Not (Despite…