doneapplied

Doneapplied is a term used in project management and software development to describe a workflow paradigm that emphasizes turning ideas into practically usable outputs. It combines the notion of 'done' with 'applied', signaling that work should reach a state where it is both complete and ready for real-world use, with requirements, validation, and deployment considerations integrated throughout the process.

Origins and usage: The term emerged in productivity and product-development discussions for teams adopting outcome-driven development. It is used to describe practices that prioritize measurable outcomes over theoretical completion, and that seek to minimize handoffs between research, development, and production.

Core concepts: Doneapplied stresses clear acceptance criteria, traceability of decisions, and close alignment with stakeholder needs. It encourages rapid, iterative experiments, incremental releases, and automated checks that verify expected value. Collaboration across cross-functional teams is essential, as is maintaining documentation and data lineage to support audits and future work.

Applications: The concept applies to software features, machine learning models, data pipelines, and process improvements within organizations that require tangible, deployable results. It is commonly discussed in contexts such as MLOps, product development, and operational optimization.

Relation to other frameworks: Doneapplied complements agile, DevOps, and Kanban by foregrounding the end-state readiness of outputs. Critics argue that without careful governance it may encourage premature delivery or diluted quality, and proponents counter that robust acceptance criteria and monitoring mitigate these risks.

See also: outcome-driven development, agile software development, MLOps.