Learning Agile — How to Keep Track?
Hi Everyone!
Today’s post will talk a little bit on how to track progress of a Sprint.
Scrum Teams use Burndown Charts to track the cumulative number of hours of work remaining in a Sprint or Project against the number of days remaining until the end of the sprint or the planned project deadline.
Scrum Teams may also use various progress charts, such as the Scrum Task Board to track the status of the tasks during a Sprint.
Find out more about these below:
Burndown Charts
We have already studied a little bit about Burndown Charts and its utility, earlier on this blog. A burndown chart is used to plot the cumulative amount of work that is left in a Sprint vs the number of days available on that same Sprint, to complete the work. Many people are unsure about how to read a burndown chart, so let’s use a sample to make sure we are all aligned on how to read one.
Looking at this chart, we see the 2 key elements on the axis: Story Points and Days , both of a specific Sprint.
The red line shows the planned effort in order to complete the all necessary work within a sprint.
The blue line shows the reality of the progress.
Looking at this specific chart, how would you answer the following question: At each point during the sprint did the team make the least progress compared to the ideal rate of progress?
The correct answer should be: Day 4.
On Day 4, the team should ideally have had about 80 Story Points of work left to complete. However, the upward trajectory of the blue line (showing actual work progress) shows that the team had 100 story points remaining on that same day.
Scrum Task Board
Another way to track Sprint Progress is by using a Scrum Task Board. To create such a board, the 1st step is to mark columns on a board. These columns should be labelled, as the examples below:
(User) Story
Not Started
In Progress
Done
— You may use color coding to identify Team Members responsible for each piece ;) —
These labels may (and should!) vary according to what adjusts better to each projects. You complete the board by adding rows for each user story or team member.
On the Scrum Task Board, you represent each task by using sticky notes. These can be color coded to identify particular team members or task priority levels — please make sure you create legends.
If new tasks are added part-way through a sprint, you can simply add notes or identify through a symbol to represent them at that point.
Once the board is created, it should be updated on a daily basis at or immediately after the daily scrum meeting, at least. Or on demand, as the stories progress (ideal!).
As the status of the tasks change, the relevant team member moves the sticky note for that task into the appropriate column. When starting a task, for example, a team member moves that task’s note from a “Not Started” column into an “In Progress” column.
Optionally, team members may add estimated completion times to the notes for their tasks. Once the tasks are completed, they can add the actual number of hours the tasks took to complete. This helps the team build metrics for team velocity, for example; which can be very useful for sizing on the following sprints.
It’s important to ensure that all team members have the same understanding of when a task can be marked “Done” / “Complete” — read more here. A team may agree, for example, that there should be an agreed step for verifying that a task has been fully completed and that its results are satisfactory.
Any tasks that cannot be complete, for any reasons, on a specific sprint, should be moved back to the product backlog to be then re-prioritized into the next sprints.
Hope this post has helped you! If you have additional questions, please post them here!
Thank you!
