One of the ways a Scrum Team tracks their progress is through the use of a burn-down chart.

It is used to tell you how much work is left to do in a Sprint. Right or wrong, this is the purpose. Now, keep this in mind as we move forward on this one…

I’d like to focus on some of the ways it should not be used….

If a burn-down approaches zero only at the end of the Sprint, it is not�being utilized by the team.

If a burn-down uses an “ideal line” to help trending (something I tell teams NOT to use), and the actual burn-down is tracking exactly, something is wrong.� Really.

If a Chicken walks into a room and wants to know why the team is not tracking to the “ideal” line, and proceeds to tell the team what to do to get there, something is wrong.� Really.

If there is no burn-down chart displayed in the room, or it is out of date, something is wrong.

OK…

Now I will review each of the statements above and backup the reasons for why I said them like I did. You may disagree. And that is OK.

If a burn-down approaches zero only at the end of the Sprint, it is not�being utilized by the team.

I have worked with many Scrum Teams that have thought the main purpose of the burn-down chart is to “report their status to Mike.” Ug.

Um. No. This is one of the signs of a dysfunctional team. I guess if some of the teams I work with are dysfunctional, this will keep me busy — but that is for another topic.

When a burn-down chart approaches zero only at the end of the Sprint (or at all), it tells me that the team is not effectively using the simple tools available to them. Mainly, these “tools” include user stories and task cards. Nothing high tech.

The burn-down should show movement — up OR down — on a daily basis. Remember the purpose of a visible burn-down chart is to help show the team how much work is left in the Sprint. That is all. It needs to move some direction each day. If I see a flat-line most of the Sprint…. it tells me the team is spinning and probably dead in the water. And they are only going through the motions of updating the burn-down chart. Sad.

If a burn-down uses an “ideal line” to help trending (something I tell teams NOT to use), and the actual burn-down is tracking exactly, something is wrong.� Really.

OK, any burn-down I see that uses an “ideal line” usually signals something is wrong with a Scrum Team. The “ideal line” is usually drawn in red (or some other color) at a nice perfect angle.

Um.

Think about this.

Life is never perfect.

A “perfect” burn-down in my mind is one that goes up, down, up, down, and eventually takes a dive toward zero. This shows active communication between the Product Owner and the team.

If it is perfect, someone is gaming the system. Nothing is life is perfect. Nothing.

Reality is real.

If a Chicken walks into a room and wants to know why the team is not tracking to the “ideal” line, and proceeds to tell the team what to do to get there, something is wrong.� Really.

Oye. A Chicken wants to become a Pig. Ug. Remember the PigKin?

Hopefully enough said on this topic. Really.

I know I know I know… Chickens want to help. They see a chart with that darn “ideal” line and…. what has their old training taught them…. go into command and control mode to and give the team answers for their problems. “Add more people to the team.” “Work overtime.” “Work weekends.”

No. No. No. No.

The correct answer is for the team to have a conversation with the Product Owner. Reduce scope for the Sprint if you need to do that. Read that last sentence again.

Remember… when using Scrum…. imagine the Iron Triangle with three edges — Scope, Budget, and Resources. In Scrum, only Scope is negotiable. Think about it…. Your budget per Sprint is pretty much fixed (resources*hours*length of Sprint). Adding Resources — we all know this — does not work. You cannot make a baby in a month by dividing it into nine women. Really. Duh.

So… have that [tough] conversation with your Product Owner about Scope. Even if people say, “Scope cannot be changed.” Guess what. Reality sometime sucks. And reality deems the discussion of Scope something that must happen. A good ScrumMaster will facilitate those discussions.

If there is no burn-down chart displayed in the room, or it is out of date, something is wrong.

If no burn-down chart is displayed in the room, this is a sign that a lot of things are wrong. If the burn-down is from Sprint #2 and the team is in Sprint #5. Um…. Think about it.

Look at the other artifacts — or information radiators — in the room. Are they also stale?

Time to bring in someone else to facilitate a retrospective. The ScrumMaster has lot his or her objectiveness (is that a word?) and has become part of the problem. Bring in another ScrumMaster to help turn things around. IF that is possible.

So, I think that is a good amount of information for now. I am sure to re-visit this topic.

For now…

Gotta run…

Please send comments, questions, criticisms, ideas, or whatever here.

You can also enter The Scrum Community to discuss this cartoon and other Scrum topics. Thank you!