--- title: "What is a definition of ready? · DeliverySheet" description: "A definition of ready is the bar work must clear before it is accepted: at ticket level in Scrum and, more consequentially, before a date is promised." canonical_url: "https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready" meta: author: "Tan Gravam" "og:description": "A definition of ready is the bar work must clear before it is accepted: at ticket level in Scrum and, more consequentially, before a date is promised." "og:image": "https://www.deliverysheet.com/_og/s/o_9d6c01f43109a64a.png" "og:image:alt": "Definition of ready — DeliverySheet glossary card" "og:image:height": "600" "og:image:type": image/png "og:image:width": "1200" "og:title": "What is a definition of ready? — DeliverySheet glossary" "twitter:description": "A definition of ready is the bar work must clear before it is accepted: at ticket level in Scrum and, more consequentially, before a date is promised." "twitter:image": "https://www.deliverysheet.com/_og/s/o_9d6c01f43109a64a.png" "twitter:image:alt": "Definition of ready — DeliverySheet glossary card" "twitter:title": "What is a definition of ready? — DeliverySheet glossary" --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://www.deliverysheet.com/llms.txt) [← All terms](https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary) **Glossary ** # **What is a definition of ready?** A definition of ready is the bar a piece of work must clear before it is accepted — applied at ticket level in Scrum, and far more consequentially at commitment level, before people and a date are promised. At commitment level the bar is six things: the problem stated apart from the proposed solution, an intended outcome, a named owner, a capacity figure from the delivering team, the dependencies, and the open questions written down as unknowns. Readiness is checkable; optimism is not — and a demand that cannot clear the bar can still be committed, but only with a recorded exception. ## **Definition of ready vs definition of done** A definition of done is the bar at the exit: what must be true before work counts as finished — reviewed, tested, released. A definition of ready is the bar at the entrance: what must be true before work is accepted at all. Done protects the quality of what ships; ready protects the promise about when and whether it ships. Many teams have a firm definition of done and no definition of ready, which is a common reason why quality holds up and dates do not. The work is built properly; it was simply promised before anyone knew what it was. ## **Ticket level vs commitment level** At ticket level the bar is about whether a team can start: the item is understood, small enough, and not blocked. It is sometimes criticised as a gate between teams, and at that altitude the criticism has a point — a ticket can be clarified in a conversation faster than it can be bounced back. At commitment level the stakes are different. The question is whether an organisation should promise people and a date, and the costly misses are decided here, not in the sprint. The bar is the six things a promise needs: the problem apart from the solution, an intended outcome, a named owner, a capacity figure from the delivering team, the dependencies, and the open questions written down. ## **Introducing one without creating a bureaucracy** Start with those six items and nothing else, each answerable in a sentence. Allow the bar to be crossed early, but only with a recorded exception, so real deadlines are served without the gamble disappearing. Then, at the end of each quarter, compare the commitments that cleared the bar with the ones that crossed it by exception. If the ready ones do no better, the bar measures the wrong things; change it. What not to do is add an item every time something goes wrong — that is how a six-line bar becomes a form nobody fills in honestly. [The essay behind “Definition of ready” →](https://www.deliverysheet.com/blog/definition-of-ready-for-commitments) [Topic: Deciding what to commit to →](https://www.deliverysheet.com/topics/commit) ## **Related terms ** - [Scope creep](https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/scope-creep) Scope creep is the accumulation of unrecorded additions to a commitment's scope — each too small to renegotiate the promise, together large enough to break it. - [Delivery roadmap](https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/delivery-roadmap) A delivery roadmap is a time-ordered statement of what an organisation intends to deliver — a communication artifact that sequences intentions, distinct from the commitment record that says what was actually promised, by whom, against what capacity. - [Readiness bar](https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/readiness-bar) A readiness bar is the set of things a demand must have before it may be promised: the problem stated apart from the solution, an intended outcome, a named owner, a capacity figure from the delivering team, the dependencies, and the open questions written down. This definition comes from building **DeliverySheet** — it takes a vague work request to a clear delivery decision, so the shape, owner, capacity, dependencies and open questions are on the table before anyone commits people or a date. $189/month per workspace, unlimited members. 7-day free trial — card required, cancel before it ends and you're not charged. I answer the support email myself. [**Start 7-day trial **](https://www.deliverysheet.com/login?next=/app) [**All terms **](https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary) [**See pricing **](https://www.deliverysheet.com/pricing) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DefinedTerm","@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready#term","name":"Definition of ready","description":"A definition of ready is the bar a piece of work must clear before it is accepted — applied at ticket level in Scrum, and far more consequentially at commitment level, before people and a date are promised.","url":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready","inDefinedTermSet":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary#termset"} ``` ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#website","@type":"WebSite","description":"Turn raw work requests into structured, decision-ready demands before you commit people, budget, or a date. AI-assisted shaping, planning and commitment governance for engineering leaders.","name":"DeliverySheet","url":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/","publisher":{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#identity"}},{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready#webpage","description":"A definition of ready is the bar work must clear before it is accepted: at ticket level in Scrum and, more consequentially, before a date is promised.","name":"Definition of ready — DeliverySheet glossary","url":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready","@type":["WebPage","FAQPage"],"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready#breadcrumb"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#website"},"mainEntity":[{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready#/schema/question/1"}],"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready"]}],"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#identity","@type":"Organization","alternateName":"Delivery Sheet","description":"Turn raw work requests into structured, decision-ready demands before you commit people, budget, or a date.","name":"DeliverySheet","url":"https://www.deliverysheet.com","founder":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/about#person","name":"Tan Gravam"},"logo":{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#logo"}},{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready#breadcrumb","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Home","item":"https://www.deliverysheet.com","position":1},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Glossary","item":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary","position":2},{"@type":"ListItem","name":"Definition of ready","item":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready","position":3}]},{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/glossary/definition-of-ready#/schema/question/1","@type":"Question","inLanguage":"en","name":"What is a definition of ready?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"A definition of ready is the bar a piece of work must clear before it is accepted — applied at ticket level in Scrum, and far more consequentially at commitment level, before people and a date are promised. At commitment level the bar is six things: the problem stated apart from the proposed solution, an intended outcome, a named owner, a capacity figure from the delivering team, the dependencies, and the open questions written down as unknowns. Readiness is checkable; optimism is not — and a demand that cannot clear the bar can still be committed, but only with a recorded exception."}},{"@id":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/#logo","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"DeliverySheet","contentUrl":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/logo.png","inLanguage":"en","url":"https://www.deliverysheet.com/logo.png"}]} ``` ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](https://www.deliverysheet.com/sitemap.md) for all pages.