Basics of scrum board

Basics of scrum board

In Scrum, every work item moves through different statuses before it's completed. These predefined statuses are listed in a board view called the Scrum Board - it's the digital equivalent of writing your team's tasks on a white board in your office.

Three default statuses

In Zoho Sprints, we have three default statuses on the board.

To Do

All work items that aren't yet completed are placed in this card. Usually, the users move the work items to this status during the sprint plan meeting, because that's when the team picks items from the backlog.

In Progress

All items that have been started are placed in this card. After the Daily Scrum meeting, users start moving their work items to this status.

Done

Once the user completes a work item, they move it to Done. This card should be full when the sprint ends.

Custom status

You do not have to work with the three default statuses—you can create custom statuses for your board. Customize the statuses on your board to meet your business requirement. Check out custom status in project settings.

What is a swimlane?

swimlane is a filtered list of information that categorizes work items according to specific criteria. This helps the sprint team track the items as they progress on the board. There are five common swimlane types: 

Priority swimlane

The priority swimlane displays work items by priority. Click each priority level to view the total number of work items in it. This information is useful in deciding where to allocate resources to complete work items.

Estimation points swimlane

The estimation points swimlane lists the points that you assigned to the work items while creating your project. Select a point values to view the number of work items assigned to it. You can easily track the items with the highest number of estimation points and monitor their progress on your board. 

Story swimlane

The story swimlane displays the stories in your sprint. Click a story to view the tasks and bugs in it. Use the swimlane to view the total number of stories. Check the status of the stories on the board to track their progress.

User Swimlane 

User swimlane displays all the work items specific to users in the sprint. 
  • Track the users who have maximum work items in the 'Open' and 'In Progress' status. 
  • Track the work items tagged in the 'Unassigned' section and assign it to the users who are least occupied. 
  • Track a particular user's progress across different status.
  • Track the users who have minimum work items in the 'Done' status and assign the users with work items. 

Epic Swimlane

Epic swimlane displays all the work items across the epics that are associated with the current sprint on your board. 
  • Track the progress of your epic by viewing the work items across different status. 
  • Track the work items that are not associated with any of the epics.