The Definition of Done (DoD) is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product. Its primary purpose is to create transparency. By ensuring that all Developers adhere to the DoD, the Product Owner and all stakeholders have a clear, shared understanding of what work was completed during the Sprint. This transparency is essential for effective inspection of the Increment at the Sprint Review, which in turn allows for adaptation of the Product Backlog and informed decision-making about the product's future direction and potential release.

A. While a consistent DoD can lead to more predictable delivery and help in forecasting, its primary purpose is ensuring a transparent and shared understanding of the Increment's quality and completeness.

C. The DoD applies to the quality of the Increment within a single Sprint; it does not serve as a tool for guaranteeing deliverables over multiple future Sprints, as the Product Backlog is emergent.

D. This describes a dysfunctional, command-and-control behavior. Scrum operates on trust and collaboration, not reprimand. Velocity is a planning tool for the Developers, not a performance metric for management.

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1. Schwaber

K.

& Sutherland

J. (2020). The Scrum Guide. Scrum.org. p. 9. "The Definition of Done creates transparency by providing everyone a shared understanding of what work was completed as part of the Increment. If a Product Backlog item does not meet the Definition of Done

it cannot be released or even presented at the Sprint Review."

2. Ceschi

M.

Sillitti

A.

& Succi

G. (2019). The Definition of Done: A Reference for Practitioners and Researchers. In Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops (pp. 279-286). Springer

Cham. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30126-233. The paper states

"The DoD is a key element to ensure transparency and a common understanding of the quality of the delivered increment among all the stakeholders." (Section 2

Paragraph 1).

3. University of Virginia Darden School of Business. (n.d.). Agile Development in Practice. Coursera. In Module 1

"Getting Started with Agile

" the course materials emphasize that artifacts like the Definition of Done are designed to maximize transparency

which is a pillar of the empirical process control theory upon which Scrum is founded.