Release Burndown Chart

Release Burndown Chart

A release burndown chart is another way for a project to be tracked in Agile. At the end of each sprint the release burndown should be updated to convey the most accurate information of the current state of a project. One of the most notable features of a release burndown is that the amount of work and sprints is fixed. There is a set end point and a set amount of work that must be done.

The release burndown is a set of points for each sprint and the amount of work for each point is determined by the team’s velocity. On the graphs vertical axis, there is the amount of work that must be done, wither story points, or days or whatever works best for your team. One the horizontal axis is the number of sprints.

The benefits of the release burndown is it becomes easy for the team to see what they have to do each week and they can exceed the amount for one sprint to make the next one easier. A sprint burndown can occasionally be altered if new requirements or work is added or removed. Sometimes a team can work with the problems but other times the burndown chart has to be altered to account for the additional work.

A burndown chart is a good option for many teams and projects, however it is important to know that there are different types of charts for different teams. If a project had its requirements changing often then that team may need a different chart as opposed to a small project with its requirements well known at the start of the project. (Cohn)

A burndown chart is necessary for any team if they want to keep track of what work is currently happening and what they can look forward to, as well as how much progress is made with each sprint. (Cohn)

Source:

Cohn, Mike. “Release Burndown Chart.” Mountain Goat Software, www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/agile/scrum/scrum-tools/release-burndown.