A team’s Definition of Done (DoD) is a critical aspect of Agile practices, ensuring that all team members have a shared understanding of what it means for work to be complete. The benefits of having a team DoD include:

To increase predictability: A clear DoD helps the team establish consistent criteria for completed work, which in turn increases the predictability of the team’s output. This predictability is essential for planning and forecasting, as it allows the team and stakeholders to have a common expectation of the work being delivered.

To improve quality: The DoD typically includes quality criteria that each increment must meet before it can be considered done. This focus on quality ensures that the work delivered meets the necessary standards, reducing the likelihood of defects and the need for rework, which contributes to the overall quality of the product1.

These benefits align with the principles of Built-In Quality within SAFe, which emphasizes the importance of quality being embedded in the workflow and outputs of Agile teams2.