Burn Down vs Burn Up Charts (and how to read them like a pro)

TaskTrakzProject Management Software

Burn Down vs Burn Up Charts

(And how to read them like a pro)


2 types of charts

Each shows progressively more information:


3 types of charts


• Burn down chart


3 types of charts


• Burn down chart• Burn up chart


Burn Down Chart

A single line showing work remaining in the project on each day


Burn Down Chart

The vertical axis is the amount of work remainingIn this chart this is the number of tasks remaining, but estimated hoursremaining can be used instead


Burn Down Chart

The horizontal axis is timeIn this chart this is per day, but any other timescale can be used such as weeks,months or hours


Burn Down Chart

What does this tell us?For one thing it tells us there were 7 tasks remaining on July 18th and all tasksWere completed on July 23rd


Why Use A Burn Down Chart?

We can see the project velocity

• Velocity is how fast the project is approaching its goal

• We can visually compare the actual velocity against the velocity required to meet the deadline

• Better than just knowing a point in time percentage complete


Burn Down Chart

The red dotted line is the ideal burn down rate to complete by July 23rd

Comparing the actual burn down to the ideal burn down can reveal interesting Information about your project


Burn Down Chart

At the marked point the team is behind schedule as they are above the idealLine. We can also see that the teams velocity is low, they are not completingTasks quickly enough. At this point the project manager investigates and takes corrective action.


Burn Down Chart

The project team is still behind schedule, but has a good velocity. Extrapolating the recent velocity (green line) we can see the team is on trackTo meet the deadline.


Burn Down Chart

Finally we see that the team made the deadline on July 23rd


Problems With Burn Down Charts

Burn down charts have a major assumption:

The amount of work does not change

This leads to problems in a few situations



What is happening here? It looks like the team is not doing any work



And what about here? A heroic last minute effort by the team?



• Actually the amount of work in the project is changing

• In the flat part of the chart more work is being added

• At the end of the project a large amount of work was removed to make the deadline

• To see this in a chart we use the burn up chart


Burn Up Chart

Two lines:• Grey line showing total work in projects• Blue line showing work completed so far


Burn Down vs Burn Up

As you can see, when the total work is constant this is just anInverted burn down chart



But when the work changes as in our last burn down chart you cansee the change in scope



In the burn down chart it looks like the team is not making anyprogress. In the burn up chart it is clear the team is making progressbut new work is being added as fast as they can complete it.



If the project manager only looked at the burn down chart they may discuss performance with the team. If the manager looks at the burn up chart, it is clear that the rate at which work is added needs to be addressed, possibly through discussions with the customer.



In the burn down chart it looks like the team is made a heroic effort at the end. In the burn up chart it is clear that work was removed from the project to meet the deadline. (The work may have been moved to the next version or milestone)


Burn Up Chart

Adding the total work information allows you to get more from the chart


Which To Use?

• Use a burn down chart if the amount of work is fixed

• Otherwise use a burn up chart to make sure you can correctly recognize and diagnose problems


Thank you

Check out TaskTrakz project management, it automatically gives you burn up and burn down charts for all of your projects.

www.tasktrakz.com

http://www.tasktrakz.com/

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Burn Down vs Burn Up Charts (and how to read them like a pro)