A burndown chart is a simple tool for tracking the progress of an agile project.
In all cases, a burndown chart has a Y axis that shows something measurable that is planned to eventually get to zero,
and an X axis that shows the total remaining time to do so. Typical items tracked for the Y axis of a burndown
chart include effort hours, functionality, budget, work items, and defects. The X axis typically tracks days,
iterations or sprints, or releases.
In all cases, some total amount is plotted which might change over time (going up or down), but that
ultimately should reach zero by the end of the planned time on the rightmost side of the graph.
Following are some examples of specific types of burndown charts:
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Iteration/Sprint burndown charts track the estimated effort hours remaining in an iteration
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Release burndown charts track estimated functionality yet to be built for a release
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Project burndown charts track estimated functionality yet to be built spanning multiple releases
The burndown chart that follows is an example of tracking the iteration burndown rate. At the beginning of the
iteration, there are 30 work items assigned to this iteration. The blue line illustrates the number of work
items to be completed. The yellow line shows the number of work items that were added to the current
iteration. Adding work items in the middle of the iteration can happen when new defects are discovered or additional
tasks are necessary to complete the original tasks.
Figure: Iteration Burndown (Upper line = Total Number of Work Items by
Day, Lower line = Added Work Items by Day)
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