Topic #2 Burn-down

User Story: As a Scrum Master or Member of an Agile team I want to understand velocity and burn down So that I can use them to maximize my team’s chances for success.

Q: What is Burn-down? A: An empirical measure of progress Burn-down measures the task completion rate during an iteration Its units are hours – the estimated number of hours that still remain to complete the tasks It is calculated daily and graphed Burn-down = Hours remaining For All Tasks Within an Iteration

Iteration 1 – Burn-down table showing hours remaining for tasks in 2 week iteration The burn-down for Day 1 (the remaining work for the tasks in this iteration) is = 36 hours User Story TasksDay 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 2Task The burn-down for Day 5 is = 15 hours

Iteration 1 – Burn-down chart Unlike velocity, burn-down is unaffected by incomplete tasks Because burn-down is based on estimated hours remaining, the numbers may fluctuate up or down.

Now you try it! Using the following table, calculate burn-down for day 1 User Story TasksDay 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 2Task The burn-down for day 1 is = 36 hours What is the burn down for day 1? Press the space bar to view the answer.

Now you try it! Using the following table, calculate burn-down for day 6 User Story TasksDay 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 2Task The burn-down for day 6 is = 11 hours What is the burn down for day 6? Press the space bar to view the answer.

Now you try it! Using the following table, calculate burn-down for day 10 User Story TasksDay 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Day 9 Day 10 Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 1Task Story 2Task The burn-down for day 10 is = 2 hours What is the burn down for day 10? Press the space bar to view the answer.

Ponder: Take 15 minutes to reflect on the following questions and statements What factors can affect a team’s burn-down? Brainstorm some answers, then rank them in order of decreasing effect (causing the most influence on burn-down to the least influence on burn- down). Which of these factors are likely to occur within your team? What can you do to minimize their influence?

Other factors that can influence burn-down are … Changes in a team’s capacity (the amount of time a team has to perform feature work within an iteration) Team members multi-tasking Team members’ time being taken up with non-feature work Changes in team membership Losing experienced team members Obstacles or impediments during the iteration

Interesting and useful facts about burn-down … Burn-down measures actual progress during an iteration, so it gives the team an idea of whether or not they will meet their iteration goals Because tasks are estimated in ideal hours, burn-down is calculated in hours Burn-down and velocity are used together on an Agile project: Velocity is used to determine how many user stories can fit within a typical iteration Burn-down shows completion of the tasks that make up the user stories and is used to determine progress

Digging Deeper: Comparing Burn-down and Velocity Why does burn-down measure hours remaining and not the number of completed tasks? (Whereas velocity only counts completed user stories.) Once you have come up with your own answer, press the space bar to see our answer. Velocity is really for the customer who only sees benefit once a user story is fully complete. Burn-down is for the development team to give them insight into their progress so they can gauge how much effort they must still expend to fully complete their tasks.

Research: Find examples of burn-down charts, then review them for patterns and trends. Employ one or more of the following methods to obtain examples of how others have used burn-down. Ask other Agile project managers or scrum masters if they use burn-down, and if so, ask them to show you their charts for several iterations. Search the company intranet using the terms “burn-down,” “burn down,” or “burndown.” Search the internet using the terms “burn-down,” “burn down,” or “burndown Attend an Agile Support Group meeting and ask the attendees for examples.

Take a Quiz Click on the following link to take a quiz on burn-down. Burn-down Quiz