Dor Gate

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting.

Evidence Gate: MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST — every claim requires file:line proof or traced evidence with confidence percentage (>80% to act).

Quick Summary

Goal: Validate a PBI artifact against the Definition of Ready (DoR) checklist. Block PBIs that fail required criteria from entering grooming.

Key distinction: Automated quality gate (not collaborative review — use /pbi-challenge for that).

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Workflow

1. Locate PBI — Find PBI artifact in team-artifacts/pbis/ or active plan context. If not found, ask user for path.
2. Load DoR protocol — Read .claude/skills/shared/refinement-dor-checklist-protocol.md (single source of truth for all 7 criteria)
3. Evaluate each criterion — Parse PBI sections against 7 DoR items:
   • Check user story template format ("As a... I want... So that...")
   • Scan AC for vague language ("should", "might", "TBD", "etc.", "various")
   • Verify GIVEN/WHEN/THEN format (min 3 scenarios)
   • Check for wireframe/mockup references (or explicit "N/A" for backend-only)
   • Check for UI design status
   • Verify story_points and complexity fields present with valid values
   • Verify dependencies table with correct columns
4. Classify result:
   • PASS — All 7 criteria pass → ready for grooming
   • FAIL — Any criterion fails → blocked, list fixes needed
5. Output verdict — Use the DoR Gate Output Template from protocol

Checklist (from protocol)

Required (ALL must pass)

• User story template — "As a {role}, I want {goal}, so that {benefit}" present
• AC testable — All AC use GIVEN/WHEN/THEN, no vague language, min 3 scenarios
• Wireframes/mockups — Present or explicit "N/A" for backend-only
• UI design ready — Completed or "N/A" for backend-only
• AI pre-review — /refine-review or /pbi-challenge result is PASS or WARN
• Story points — Valid Fibonacci (1-21) + complexity (Low/Medium/High)
• Dependencies table — Complete with Type column (must-before/can-parallel/blocked-by/independent)

Output

## DoR Gate Result

**PBI:** {PBI filename}
**Status:** PASS | FAIL
**Date:** {date}

### Checklist Results

| #   | Criterion                   | Status    | Evidence / Issue |
| --- | --------------------------- | --------- | ---------------- |
| 1   | User story template         | ✅/❌     | {evidence}       |
| 2   | AC testable and unambiguous | ✅/❌     | {evidence}       |
| 3   | Wireframes/mockups          | ✅/❌/N/A | {evidence}       |
| 4   | UI design ready             | ✅/❌/N/A | {evidence}       |
| 5   | AI pre-review passed        | ✅/❌     | {evidence}       |
| 6   | Story points estimated      | ✅/❌     | {evidence}       |
| 7   | Dependencies complete       | ✅/❌     | {evidence}       |

### Blocking Items (if FAIL)

1. {Fix instruction}

### Verdict

**{READY_FOR_GROOMING | FIX_REQUIRED}**

Key Rules

• FAIL blocks grooming — If ANY required criterion fails, PBI cannot enter grooming. List specific fixes.
• No guessing — Every check must reference specific content (line numbers) in the PBI artifact.
• Protocol is source of truth — Always reference refinement-dor-checklist-protocol.md for criteria definitions.
• Story points >13 — Flag recommendation to split (not a FAIL, but a strong WARN).

Next Steps

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST after completing this skill, use AskUserQuestion to recommend:

• "/handoff (Recommended)" — If PASS: hand off to grooming presentation
• "/refine" — If FAIL: revise PBI
• "/pbi-challenge" — If collaborative review needed before re-checking DoR
• "Skip, continue manually" — user decides

Closing Reminders

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST validate decisions with user via AskUserQuestion — never auto-decide. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST add a final review todo task to verify work quality.