The Sprint Burn Rate chart maps the average number of hours a Scrum team burns over the length of the sprint relative to the required burn rate calculated by ScrumEdge. This chart is based on two variables, The Ideal Burn and the Team’s Burn.
Ideal Burn
Once sprint planning is complete and tasks have been assigned to Team Members, ScrumEdge calculates the Sprint’s Ideal Burn rate by adding up the total number of hours required to complete all tasks in the sprint and dividing these over the length of the sprint to get the average number of hours the team should be burning each day to complete their tasks.
Ideal Burn: (Whole Team)
Ideal Burn Rate = (Total Sprint Hours / Number of Days in Sprint) / Total Team Members
Ideal Burn: (Single Team Member)
Total Sprint Hours Assigned to Team Member / Number of Days in Sprint
Example: If a 2 man team plans a 10 day sprint and their total tasks estimates are 100 hours their Ideal Burn Rate would be as follows:
(100 / 10) / 2 = 5
The ideal burn rate stays constant through the course of the sprint.
Team’s Burn
The Team’s Burn is the average number of hours the team burns every day.
Team’s Burn: (Whole Team)
Team’s Burn = (Total Hours Burnt By Team / Number of Days) / Number of Team Members
Team’s Burn: (Single Team Member)
Team’s Burn = Total Hours Burnt By Team Member / Number of Days
Example: If a 2 member team was to burn 10 hours on Day 1, 15 hours on Day 2 and 20 hours on Day 3, their Burn Rates would be as follows:
Day 1: (10 / 1) / 2 = 5
Day 2: (25 / 2) / 2 = 6.25
Day 3: (45 / 3) / 2 = 7.5
The Team’s Burn Rate changes from day to day.
Ideal Burn vs. Team Burn
The Team’s Burn when mapped against the Ideal Burn should give the ScrumMaster an idea of how many hours their team is burning every day. The Ideal Burn tells the ScrumMaster how many hours the team committed to burn every day through to course of the sprint. On the other hand the Team’s Burn tells the ScrumMaster how many hours their team is burning every day.
It’s important to keep in mind that the Sprint Burn Rate Chart does not help predict the success of a sprint. A Scrum team may be working at ideal burn levels and still not complete tasks because of incorrect estimation. However, this chart does give the ScrumMaster an idea of how much time each team member is spending working on a sprint everyday. If a member’s burn rate is well below the Ideal Burn this chart should help the ScrumMaster raise a red flag and investigate the matter.
Similarly if the Ideal Burn at the start of the sprint is higher than the team’s overall velocity, the ScrumMaster should note that the team may have overcommitted. At this point it would be a good idea to regroup with the team and if need be, revise their sprint plan.
