Tracking Agile Team Performance

Agile teams use visual charts to track progress, identify trends, and estimate future work. Burn charts and velocity charts are key performance indicators in Agile projects.

1. Burn Charts – Essential for Agile

Burn charts are one of the most critical topics for Agile exams. You must understand:

• Burn-up Charts – Show work completed.
• Burn-down Charts – Show work remaining.

2. Burn-Up Charts

A burn-up chart tracks completed work over time.

• Starts with the total scope of the project.
• Tracks completed work as an upward-moving line.
• If scope increases (new requirements), the total work line moves up.

Example:

At project start: 100 story points.

By iteration 5, the team completes 57 points.

At iteration 6, new features increase the total work to 120 points.

Outcome: The burn-up chart shows both progress and changes in scope.

3. Burn-Down Charts

A burn-down chart tracks how much work remains.

• Starts with the total amount of work.
• Tracks work completed as a downward-moving line.
• The steeper the line, the faster work is being completed.

Example:

Day 1: 90 story points remaining.

Day 5: 60 points remaining.

Day 8: 30 points remaining.

Day 9: 12 points remaining.

Outcome: The burn-down chart shows work left to be completed at any given time.

4. Velocity Charts

A velocity chart helps estimate how much work the team can complete per iteration.

• Measures the amount of work completed in each iteration.
• Helps forecast future capacity based on past performance.
• Teams aim to maintain a stable velocity.

Example:

Iteration 1: 4 points completed.

Iteration 2: 15 points completed.

Iteration 3: 17 points completed.

Team stabilizes at 16-17 points per iteration.

Outcome: The team can predict how much work they can handle in future sprints.

5. Exam Tip: Velocity-Based Estimation

A common exam question involves calculating the number of iterations required to complete work.

Example Question:

A team completes an average of 18 points per iteration.

The total remaining work is 250 points.

How many iterations will it take?

Answer: 250 ÷ 18 ≈ 14 iterations.

6. Key Takeaways

• Burn-up Chart: Tracks work completed over time.
• Burn-down Chart: Tracks work remaining.
• Velocity Chart: Helps estimate how much work the team can complete in future iterations.

Conclusion

Understanding burn charts and velocity charts is crucial for tracking Agile progress. These charts help teams plan, adapt, and communicate progress effectively.

Next Steps

Let’s explore advanced techniques for tracking Agile performance and optimizing project workflows.