With monday dev's burndown chart, you can automatically generate a graph representing the effort your team has made and has yet to complete from your Tasks board. Keep reading to learn how to interpret, filter, and track activity in your burndown chart to help your team stay on track or pivot throughout your sprints. 

 

What is a burndown chart?

A burndown chart is the best way to track all aspects of your sprint's progression. It's a graph depicting the amount of work and effort for your team during a sprint along the sprint's timeline. It is used to compare the progress of your sprints to what was planned based on the sum of effort, whether you measure in days, hours, or story points. The y-axis lists the story points, or effort, while the x-axis shows the total time allotted for the sprint.

 

How do I create one?

To generate a burndown chart, click the Burndown button beside the status bar of your active or completed sprint.

 

 

The line chart is drawn along the dates of the sprint on the x-axis and number of story points on the y-axis. The green (dashed) line represents the ideal burn rate of estimated effort in the given timeline, while the blue line indicates the remaining estimated effort. Each data point marks a change in the sprint's scope and the height reflects the change in total effort during the sprint. 

 

 

Burndown settings

Customize your chart to work best for your team by using the settings menu. To open it on the right side of your chart, click the cogwheel icon at the top right corner.

 

First, choose what you'd like to track. This setting will change the y-axis and how your tasks are plotted on the chart.

You have the option to view your data based on:

• Sum of columns - the number of story points ascending from zero to the total sum of SPs in your sprint at the top of your chart
• Number of tasks - the number of tasks in your sprint regardless of their effort

 

Next, choose which Status Column on your Tasks board your chart should pull data from.

 

Now you have to assign your Numbers Columns to the lines of your chart. Choose the correct column to represent estimated effort in order to generate the green dotted line, and choose the column that represents actual effort to generate the blue line. 

The choice will to lend data to your y-axis, or effort. Here, you can choose between your actual story points or estimated story points, or any other unit of measurement implemented into your Tasks board.

 

Some additional settings at the bottom of your settings pane include the option to display or exclude weekends from the chart, a today indication to give context to where you stand today in the form of a green vertical marker, and a third orange graph line displaying the total scope of your sprint.

 

Choose a breakdown

Click the Breakdown button at the top of the settings menu or scroll to Breakdown by to change the breakdown of your chart. You can choose from any of the Status columns to see your items divided by your status labels. To remove the breakdown, simply click the "x" on the label in the menu or click the Breakdown button.

 

Activity log

Team members can use the activity log to see more information regarding any of the data points on your burndown chart.

 

Click the small arrow to the left of your chart to open the left pane. Here, you'll find an activity log organized in chronological order with most recent events at the top descending.

 

Each item on the activity log represents a change to one of the items in your sprint. The heading is the change made, and below, the team member who made the change is listed beside the name of the item.

 

Filter your chart

You can customize your chart by filtering it by any of the Status or People Columns on your Tasks board. Once your burndown chart is open, click the Filter button at the top left corner to launch a list of available quick filters.

 

You can filter using the Owner on your board, which is most likely the task owner, to see only tasks belonging to the respective person. Click Me to view the chart only displaying tasks assigned to you. You can also choose from any of the Status columns in order to filter for only the best effort or critical tasks, for example. Other filtering options include by Role, Priority, and Type. 

 

 

 

View as a widget

To view the burndown as a widget, first navigate to your dashboard. Then click on Add widget and select Burndown. You can switch between sprints and see their respective burndown charts.

You can also find the burndown chart under views by clicking on the plus sign icon and then on Explore more views. Select the Burndown from the Agile Insights section.

 

You can add additional widgets in addition to the Burndown chart, as seen below:

 

 

If you have any questions, please reach out to our team right here. We’re available 24/7 and happy to help.