Getting to Done: 10 Practical Ideas

One of the key aspects of Scrum is that each Sprint should result in a Done, usable increment of product. But what happens if your team struggles to achieve this? You are not alone—many Scrum Teams encounter this challenge at some point. The important thing is to treat it as a learning opportunity. Here are ten practical ideas that your team may consider adopting to help improve your ability to get to Done.

1. Discuss it in the Retrospective

The Sprint Retrospective is the Scrum Team’s built-in opportunity to reflect and improve. If your increments are not getting to Done, make that the focus. A simple technique is the Five Whys exercise. Keep asking “why” until you uncover the root cause, rather than stopping at the first explanation. This approach often reveals systemic issues that can be addressed.

2. Limit Work in Progress (WIP)

Too many items in progress can slow down a team. Try visualizing the steps in your development process and then putting a limit on how many items can be in progress at once. This promotes focus, reduces context switching, and helps workflow more quickly from start to finish.

3. Slice Work Smaller

If backlog items are too big, they simply won’t fit into a Sprint. Try slicing work into smaller pieces of end-to-end, usable value. Even if the piece feels small, the act of delivering it Done builds momentum, provides feedback, and prevents half-finished work from piling up.

4. Improve Refinement Practices

Refinement isn’t just about documenting Product Backlog items—it’s about building shared understanding. If your team struggles here, consider running refinement sessions with small groups of stakeholders or breaking refinement into shorter, more frequent discussions. The clearer the work is before the Sprint begins, the more likely it is to get Done.

5. Remove Blockers Aggressively

Impediments happen, but they don’t have to linger. Encourage the team to raise blockers quickly (the Daily Scrum is a great place for this), and work together to remove them. A Scrum Master can be particularly helpful here by ensuring that the team is supported and obstacles don’t fester.

6. Try Pair Programming

Pair programming, or even mob programming, can increase quality and reduce handoffs. Two (or more) sets of eyes on the same problem often means fewer defects and faster progress. It also helps spread knowledge across the team, which can reduce dependencies later.

7. Strengthen Your Definition of Done

Sometimes the issue is not the work itself but how “Done” is defined. If your Definition of Done is unclear or unrealistic, you’ll struggle to meet it. Review it as a team: Is it achievable? Does it reflect what stakeholders truly need? Adjusting your Definition of Done (without lowering quality) can make it clearer and more attainable.

8. Focus on Cross-Functionality

Dependencies between roles slow things down. A truly cross-functional team has all the skills it needs to deliver a Done increment. If your team is missing a skill (such as testing, UX, or DevOps), consider training, pairing, or adding team members with those skills so the team can move more independently.

9. Automate Where You Can

Manual testing, deployments, or builds can eat up valuable time. Look for opportunities to automate. Even small steps toward continuous integration or automated regression testing can free up energy for delivering valuable features instead of wrestling with process overhead.

10. Use the Sprint Goal to Stay Focused

Sometimes teams take on too much and scatter their efforts. A clear Sprint Goal can act as a north star. If everything you do is aligned to achieving that goal, the chances of producing a Done increment increase dramatically. Without it, you risk spreading effort thin and ending the Sprint with lots of unfinished work.

Conclusion

Struggling to deliver a Done increment doesn’t mean Scrum isn’t working—it means you’ve uncovered areas for improvement. Whether it’s limiting WIP, slicing work smaller, improving refinement, or strengthening your Definition of Done, there are concrete steps you can take. The key is to treat each Sprint as an opportunity to learn and adapt. By experimenting with these ideas, your team can steadily improve its ability to deliver value, one Done increment at a time.