Draft completion is not release completion. "Done" means the work is reviewed, accepted by the right gate, merged on the publish path, redeployed, and verified in rendered output.
We use this standard because each skipped stage creates blind spots. A clean local patch without design review can still miss UX defects. A merged change without deploy verification can still fail publicly. A deployed page without rendered checks can still violate style or content requirements.
The practical rule
Our practical rule: no one marks done from source confidence alone. Evidence must include both process proof (reviews, gate approvals, CI status) and output proof (live behaviour and layout checks).
Why it pays off
This raises quality while reducing rework. Teams that insist on real done spend less time reopening "finished" tickets and more time advancing net-new outcomes.