Burndown Chart for Active Sprint

A burndown chart is a simple way to see whether your sprint is on track.

It answers questions like:

• Are we finishing work fast enough to meet the sprint goal?

• Did we add more work during the sprint?

• Why does “work remaining” suddenly go up or down?

The main idea

At the start of the sprint, the team has a certain amount of work planned (your commitment).mAs the sprint goes on, that amount should go down as issues get completed.

• If the line is going down steadily, you’re likely on track.

• If it stays flat for too long, the team may not be finishing work yet.

• If it goes up, it usually means new work was added.

How to read the chart

X-axis (time)

Shows the sprint timeline:

• usually days

• if the sprint is very short, it switches to hours

• if it’s extremely short, it switches to minutes

So the chart always matches the real sprint duration.

Y-axis (work remaining)

Shows “how much work is still left”, based on the method you choose:

• Story Points

• Original Time

• Work Item Count

Example:

• If you choose Story Points, the chart shows how many story points are still not done.

• If you choose Work Item Count, it shows how many issues are still not done.

What makes the line move

The burndown changes when something in the sprint changes:

✅ Issue added to the sprint → line goes up

More work was added, so the remaining work increases.

✅ Issue removed from the sprint → line goes down

Work was taken out of scope, so the remaining work decreases.

✅ Issue completed → line goes down

Work got finished, so the remaining work decreases.

If none of these things happen for a while, the line stays flat.

Actual vs Forecast lines

Actual line

Shows what really happened so far:

• starts at the sprint’s initial commitment

• updates up to today / current time

• moves up/down when scope changes or issues are completed

Forecast line

Shows the “ideal path” to finish on time:

• a straight line from the initial commitment

• to the planned end of the sprint

Think of it as a simple target to compare against.

What “good” and “risky” patterns look like

• Actual line is close to the forecast line: sprint is generally on track

• Actual line is above the forecast line: you may be behind (too much work remaining)

• Actual line goes up often: scope is changing a lot (new work added mid-sprint)

• Actual line stays flat for long periods: work may be in progress but not reaching “Done”