Field Notes
Designing a definition of ready for client briefs
How software service teams can stop accepting half-stories without starting a fight with account managers.
Product companies can refuse incomplete backlog items. Service teams often cannot — the brief arrives from a paying client with a go-live already mentioned in an email thread. A definition of ready still helps, but it must name the minimum that keeps estimation honest.
Minimums that usually matter
- Named decision-maker on the client side for acceptance questions
- Access notes for environments the story will touch
- Explicit out-of-scope list, even if short
- Known dependencies on other vendors, with a contact
Negotiation without drama
Present the definition of ready as a shared risk list, not a purity test. Account managers care when you show which incomplete briefs caused last quarter’s carry-over. Offer a “spike first” path when the client cannot answer yet, so the sprint does not pretend the work is ready.
Where coaching fits
During Sprint Cadence & Delivery Coaching we co-write the ready checklist with PO, tech lead, and one account contact in the room. Documents written only by coaches tend to die in Confluence.