I find we get lots of questions about Definition of Done vs Acceptance Criteria. The blog post below from scrum.org nails the answer to a lot of these questions… It’s quality vs scope.
“Definition of Done focuses on quality.”
e.g. “Code must be reviewed and approved by at least one other team member.”
“Acceptance Criteria focus on scope.”
e.g. “The login feature must require a valid email address and password to access the system.“
Thinking about it another way. The definition of Done must always be met for something to be done, Acceptance Criteria must be true for THIS ONE to be done.
What’s also interesting is that Definition of Done is required by Scrum, while Acceptance Criteria is an optional complementary practice. Many teams have it the other way around.
Check out the scrum.org blog post for more definitions and examples…
https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/acceptance-criteria-arent-enough