Sprint Burndown
Short Tip: It is the chart that monitors how much work remains to be done in the Sprint.
What is it?
It is a chart that indicates the work that hasn’t been finished in the Sprint. The chart has the days on the X-axis and the work metric (usually the number of story points) on the Y-axis. Each day, the Developers update the chart based on the stories that have been finished (the “Done” column in the Sprint Backlog).
It is important to remember that this is not an instrument used by the Product Owner, but directly by the Developers. The Product Owner monitors product development using the Product or Release Burnup.
Why use it?
Burndown is a way of viewing Sprint progress that is very common in agile methods. It allows the whole team to quickly view the progress of activities without entering the level of activities or stories, as with the Sprint Backlog.
How to use it?
- Initially, agree with the Developers and the Scrum Master about who will update the Burndown chart and what metric will be used (e.g., story points). Ideally, any member could do this update as they finish their stories, just like with the Sprint Backlog, but it is up to the team to make this call.
- Once that is defined, draw the initial chart:
- At the Sprint’s start, establish the Sprint’s total amount of work (story points) as the starting point on the Y-axis.
- Along the X-axis, indicate the number of working days corresponding to the Sprint’s total (e.g., 10 for a 2-week Sprint).
- In addition, draw a line from the point indicated in item “a” above to “0” on the Sprint’s last day. That line will be your parameter, if the stories were uniformly finished throughout Sprint.
- Update the chart daily by subtracting from the previous day’s total the story points finished on the day. The chart can help the team view its speed; it can also provide insights for the retrospective.