Know About Burn-Up Charts in Scrum

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Staragile

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Nov 13, 2024

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10 mins

 

When you are managing projects, you want to make sure everything is clear. You always want to finish quickly but with the required effort and quality. To do your project, the Gantt chart may be of great use. By using a Gantt chart, you can track your projects. Also, it is excellent for both waterfall and agile approaches.

Unfortunately, the Gantt chart has some drawbacks.  So, you can prefer using burn-up charts for a lot of good reasons. This post aims to deepen your knowledge regarding burn-up charts, so keep reading to learn more.

Definition of a Burn-Up Chart

What is a burn-up chart is a common question when one starts to learn about the burn-up chart. Here you will find the answer to this question.

A burn-up chart is like a roadmap that shows your effort on a vertical axis with two lines. You can see the total project workload in one line. You can also see what work has been done so far on the other line. When you complete the job, these two lines will come together.

You can use the units of measurement that you like; this includes estimates, story points, or issue counts. You can set the duration for the full project on the horizontal axis.

These charts are great for you if you are well-versed in agile project management. You can easily read the summary with these charts. To keep you and your team focused, scrum and agile planning even allow you to make burn-up charts.

These points would be sufficient for you to understand what a burn-up chart is.

Benefits of Using a Burn-Up Chart

Monitoring your progress via burn-up charts has a lot of benefits. Here, you will get to know about a few of them.

1. Tracking general progress

With the burn-up chart scrum, you can clearly see the overall development of the project. Teams have the chance to quickly see the progress of their work. They can also compare the quantity of work done to the overall amount needed so that there will be a clear indication of what needs to be done. As a result, this visual clarity helps you determine if your project is on the course to achieve its goals.

2. Assessing the completion of work

One of the valid benefits of burn-up charts is to determine how much work is pending and needs to be done. This measure is really needed to understand the workload and efficiently allocate resources. With the help of this information, the team may evaluate their capabilities and decide which tasks to assign.

3. Tracking anticipated progress

Burn-up charts make it easier to track the anticipated project progress within a predetermined period. Also, teams are able to compare actual progress to planned milestones by updating the graphic on a regular basis. If the project is running behind the fixed schedule, this will make precise adjustments to make sure that the team will reach the goal at any cost.

4. Displaying the completion percentage 

Burn-up chart scrum makes it easy to see the finished project’s proportion at any one time. This measure is great for stakeholders who wish to quickly evaluate the total amount of work that has been completed so far. As a result, you can witness an increase in transparency, and it will help all parties stay aware of the project’s progress.

5. Visualizing the project’s scope

Another important benefit of a burn-up chart is that it can depict the project scope. The overall workline changes to reflect the changes when either task is added or removed. By making sure that everyone is aware that these changes influence overall development, this visibility helps teams properly manage scope changes.

6. Displaying operational performance

Burn-up charts offer information about the trackability of the project. Teams can spot trends and areas for development by examining the completed work trends. Through reflection, teams can improve efficiency and simplify their operations.

7. Adapting to deadlines

Finally, burn-up charts help in assessing whether the project’s schedule corresponds with the required deadlines. Teams can detect potential delays by comparing the rate of completed work with scheduled completion dates. If you use a proactive approach, there will be prompt interventions to keep the project on track.

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How Do Burn-Up Charts Help Scrum Teams?

For scrum teams using agile project management, burn-up charts are really helpful. They offer clarity and allow teams to track their progress efficiently. They do it by graphically displaying the total quantity of work finished in comparison to the total amount needed. Two lines will be displayed in burn-up charts.

One is for the total amount of work, and another is for the work that has been finished. This lets teams see their progress and find the areas for advancement.  If you are curious about learning what a burn-up chart is, the points above should be considered very important.

Burn-up charts also do a good job of highlighting scope creep. This is the inclusion of new activities within a sprint.  Burn-up charts help teams to adapt their plans by clearly indicating when the scope expands, in contrast to burn-down charts that could hide this information. Teams can forecast when they will complete their projects as they can examine the rate at which the work is completed. This forecasting skill makes it easier to set reasonable timeframes and control stakeholder expectations. 

Additionally, burn-up charts provide you with a clear picture of progress. This, in turn, helps with enhanced stakeholder communication. This makes it simpler to keep everyone aware and involved by promoting trust and transparency in the team’s work. Finally, scrum teams benefit from burn-up charts as they make it easier to track progress, handle scope changes, and enhance stakeholder communication.

Also Read: Scrum Master Learning Path

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Reasons to Use a Burn-Up Chart

Particularly in agile systems, burn-up charts are effective project management tools. Teams can easily monitor their progress as they offer a clear visual depiction of the work done over time. Burn-up charts show the entire project's scope in addition to the completed work. Burn-down charts only show the amount of work left to perform, and this is a major difference between burn-up charts and burn-down charts. Teams can use this dual-line technique to evaluate how scope changes impact their progress in addition to how much they have already completed.

The capacity of burn-up charts to draw attention to scope changes is one of their major advantages. The overall work line will be updated in accordance with the addition or removal of tasks.

Due to the visibility, teams and stakeholders can easily understand the impact of these adjustments on project timelines and deliverables. For instance, you can expect better planning and communication if a marketing team decides to add promotional efforts mid-project. You can witness the prompt reflection of this in the burn-up chart.

Burn-up charts improve forecasting skills as well. Teams can predict the project completion dates by comparing the rate of performed work to the projected trajectory.

Setting reasonable timeframes and controlling stakeholder expectations are two areas in which this is really helpful. With the help of the chart, the team can quickly determine whether the project is behind schedule, and if so, they can also make the required changes.

Additionally, these infographics help stakeholders and team members communicate better and promote transparency. They offer an uncomplicated method of communicating project status without overwhelming people with technical information or geek speak. A quick peek into the project’s status allows stakeholders to establish confidence and maintain alignment.

Apart from these advantages, burn-up chart scrum has the potential to improve team spirit. Seeing the increasing trend of finished work can inspire team members by providing a visual representation of their accomplishments and development. Long-term endeavors where motivation may slowly decline can benefit greatly from this sense of success.

Burn-up charts are also versatile tools that will work well in changing conditions. Teams can remain flexible and responsive in fields like marketing and technology, where project scopes are subject to regular changes due to these charts. On this basis of real-time information on project progress and scope change, they can quickly modify their plans.

Hence, burn-up charts are a great tool for project management. They smoothly adapt to changes in scope, improve forecasts, increase team motivation, improve communication, and offer clarity on progress. 

Read More: Importance of Certified Scrum Master

When to Use a Burn-Up Chart?

The burn-up chart has a crucial role In scenarios where the project scope is expected to change. It is perfect for projects that demand flexibility in planning and execution because of its explicit tracking and display abilities for scope modifications. Additionally, the burn-up chart has a clear benefit over the burn-down chart for projects where stakeholder communication and strategic planning depend on knowing the relationship between completed work and the entire scope.

In short, the burn-up chart adds to the agile visualization toolbox by providing insights into overall project progress and scope changes. On the other hand, the burn-down is a great tool for tracking sprint progress and remaining work. Because of this, it is a useful tool for projects that need flexibility and transparent communication. If you need to know in depth about project progress and scope modifications, go with a burn-up chart.

Steps to Create a Burn-Up Chart

The technique of making a burn-up chart is simple and helps in efficiently monitoring project progress. These are the necessary steps to begin.

First, you should collect your information. The scope of the entire project and the amount of work finished are two essential pieces of information. The finished work represents cumulative efforts at different times in time, although the entire work is often expressed in story points or assignments. 

You should set up your axes as the next step. On your X-axis, you should draw the time. This could be in sprints, days, or weeks. Note that it depends on how long your project will take. The Y axis will show the whole quantity of effort, which is usually expressed in time points or hours.

Plotting the whole scope line comes as the next step. A horizontal line across the chart should indicate the total amount of effort required for the project. This line stays the same unless the project scope changes.

Plot and monitor the finished work line after that. At each interval, change this line to reflect the total amount of work performed. This line should ascend whenever the task is completed.

Adding an estimated progress line is optional. This line shows your intended course for finishing the project over time. It allows the comparison of performance expectations with actual progress.

Finally, you should frequently update and analyze your chart. As the project develops, you need to keep the scope lines and completed tasks up to date. You should make necessary adjustments to your plans by using the chart to identify any delays or changes in scope.

You may effectively manage stakeholder expectations and improve insights into the status of your project by following these steps to construct an effective burn-up chart.

Related Blog: What Is Scrum Guide

Conclusion

Burn-up charts are the right tool for you if you are looking forward to keeping up with the progress and scope of your project. Also, you should do your best to finish the project with all your efforts, so making use of burn-up charts clearly, as mentioned above, is a wise idea. CSM Certification is what you should opt for in order to sharpen your skills in agile methodologies so that you can use these tools effectively in scrum projects.

FAQs

1. How do you read a burn-up chart?

Two important lines to read when interpreting a burn-up chart are the total work line and the finished work line. The completed work line increases as jobs are finished. On the other hand, the total work line stays the same. Comparing these lines makes it simple to track developments and spot changes in the project’s scope. Teams are better able to make decisions when there is clarity.

2. What is the difference between a burn-up chart and a burn-down chart?

What burn-up and burn-down charts represent is the primary difference between them. A rising trend on a burn-up chart indicates the progress in the amount of work accomplished over time. Conversely, a burn-down chart shows the amount of work left by showing a downward trend as tasks are finished. In addition to highlighting the scope changes, burn-up charts are more useful for monitoring the general health of a project.

3. What challenges might arise when using burn-up charts?

Burn-up charts provide benefits, but there are drawbacks as well. You must track the reliable data in order to keep it updated, which is a drawback. Confusion regarding progress may also result from frequent scope modifications. Finally, if team members are unfamiliar with agile approaches, they could find it more difficult to understand burn-up charts than simpler burn-down charts.

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