Burndown chart
Understanding the burndown chart
From tracking the pending estimation points to achieving your sprint goal, the burndown chart helps your team manage time effectively.
- Track the pending estimation points on a daily basis.
- View how the sprint should've progressed using the ideal line.
- Track the current progress of the sprint using the actual line.
- Compare the team's actual progress with its ideal progress.
- Easily predict the end date of the sprint by comparing the ideal and actual lines.
- Manage your team's progress and quickly respond to scope changes.
Viewing the burndown chart
- Navigate to Reports .
- Choose Burndown from the Charts section.
- X-axis represents the Date and the Y-axis represents the Estimation points .
- The legend shows the Sprint Name and the Ideal, Actual, and Predicted lines .
Select Compare if you would like to compare two or more sprints at a time. (You can compare up to 5 sprints).
To view the daily progress details, scroll down to the table at the bottom of the chart.
- The completed estimation points are marked (-) .
- The reopened and newly added estimation points are marked (+) .
Use case
Helen Collins runs an Online Shopping project in her team Zylker. She has started two sprints: User Interface and Category. John Marsh is the sprint owner of User Interface sprint. How does burndown chart help her track the sprint progress?
She's tracking the "User Interface" sprint
Start and End date: 07/13/2017 - 07/27/2017
Total committed estimation points: 295
Target: The target of the team is to burndown the points from 295 to 0.
Inconsistent progress: If the team reopens or adds items in the sprint, then the graph inclines.
Consistent progress: If the team completes the items in the sprint then the graph declines.
The ideal line (Grey) is the sprint's start and end date and the actual line (Orange) is the current progress of the sprint.
How's the predicted end date calculated?
Based on the average velocity per day, the predicted end date is calculated.
1. Calculate completed estimation points = Total committed estimation points - Total pending estimation points
From the start until now, the team has completed 146 points (295 [Committed estimation points] - 149 [Pending points today] = 146 [Completed estimation points until today]
2. Average velocity per day = Completed estimation points until today / No. of days taken to complete the estimation points
Here, the team has completed 146 points and the number of days taken to complete the points is 67. So, the average velocity is (146/67 = 2)
3. Predicted end date = Pending estimation points / Average velocity per day
Here, the team has 149 pending estimation points and the average velocity per day is 2. So, the predicted end date is (149/2 = 74)
It will take 74 days for the team to complete the sprint. So, the predicted end date is 11/27/2017. You can see predicted line in the graph above that marks the end date as 11/27/2017 .
How to track daily activities?
Using Burndown chart, you can also track the total completed, reopened, or newly added points on a daily basis. Scroll down the chart and view the table below that lists the sprint details.
- Click a date and view the work items and estimation points.
How to compare sprints?
You can compare upto five sprints in your project. The graph plots the start date of the first sprint and the end date of the last sprint.
- Click Compare Sprints .
- Select upto five sprints in the Compare Sprints field.
- Click Compare .
- Click the particular day and view the open and closed items and their estimation points.
Only the Team Owner, Admin can view all the sprints. If you are the Manger or Member you can access the burndown chart only for the sprints assigned to you.
View sprints
You can view and track the daily progress of the sprint either by points, or count.
- Points : Tracks based on the pending estimation points .
- Count : Tracks based on the pending work items .
Click the item and sprint to navigate to the respective item and sprint details section.
Epic burndown
Epic burndown report will show the number of work items or points that are remaining on a daily basis. Using this report you can track the progress of your epic on a daily basis and get to know the predicted end date of your epic.
- You can view the epic burndown chart either based on the estimation points or count of work items.
- Hover over a particular date to view the number of work items or points remaining on a daily basis.
Different scenarios of Burndown
Steady progress
If the team makes consistent progress, the ideal line and the actual line will follow the same straight line with no deviations.
Sprint progress not met
If the team does not make the required progress to complete the sprint, the actual line will extend further than the ideal line. At this time, the team will move the remaining work items to the backlog and take it up in the next sprint.
Works hard towards the end to complete the commitment
In this case, the team works at a slow pace during the first few days, then hurries at the end to complete the sprint. Here, the actual line will become steep at the end but will meet the ideal line. In the future, knowing the team's actual performance, they can commit to fewer estimation points to run a smooth and realistic sprint.
Inconsistent progress
In this case, the team has successfully met the end date but their progress has been inconsistent. The team has worked hard to complete the remaining estimation points at the end of every week, resulting in a mix of ups and downs.
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