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Burnup Charts

5 minutes 5 Questions

Burnup charts demonstrate the amount of work completed in a project over time. Unlike burndown charts, which show remaining work, burnup charts focus on showing completed work. This metric can reveal a project's progress and can help predict when the project will be completed based upon the work accomplished. These charts are valuable tools to understand if a team is on target to hit their sprint goals. They also provide a clear picture of the work that has been done compared to the total scope of the work, providing critical insight for scrum masters and project stakeholders.

Guide: Understanding and Answering Questions about Burnup Charts

A burnup chart is a graphical representation used in Scrum project management methodology that shows the cumulative work completed over time.

Why is it important?
Burnup charts are crucial as they provide transparency in a project's progress. They give clear visibility of the total work done, remaining work and any changes in scope.

How does it work?
It tracks and plots two aspects on the chart: the total work scope and the completed work. Typically, the y-axis represents the work load and the x-axis represents time. The upward curve shows work completed over time, getting closer to the total scope line as the project progresses.

How to answer questions regarding Burnup Charts in an exam?
Understanding the key components of a burnup chart is necessary. Typical exam questions could be centered on interpreting a given burnup chart, explaining its significance in project management or understanding its differences with burndown charts.

Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Burnup Charts
Pay attention to the elements of the chart in question - the total scope of work and the work completed. Note changes in the total scope which appear as jumps in the top line of the chart, indicating a change of plans or scope creep. Drawings or diagrams could be used when explaining your answer. Make sure you're familiar with the comparison between burnup and burndown charts – where burnup charts show progress towards a visibly moving target, burndown charts show work remaining and can sometimes misrepresent the project’s full scope.

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CSM - Scrum Performance Metrics Example Questions

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Question 1

What does a flattening of the 'total work' curve on a burnup chart typically indicate within a Sprint?

Correct Answer: Work addition has ceased

A burnup chart is a graphical representation of work done versus time in Agile projects, often used in Scrum. A flattening of the 'total work' curve on a burnup chart typically signifies that no new work is being added to the Sprint backlog, hence indicating that work addition has ceased. This cessation could be due to reaching a point in the Sprint where the team decides not to add more work to focus on completing what is already committed. The other options are incorrect for the following reasons: 'Increased velocity by the team' is represented by a faster upward slope in the 'work completed' section, not a flattening of the 'total work' curve. 'Constant work completion rate' would affect the 'work completed' curve rather than the 'total work' curve. 'Scope reduction by the Product Owner' would actually cause the 'total work' curve to decrease, not just flatten, as tasks are removed from the Sprint backlog.

Question 2

As a ScrumMaster, you see that the burnup and scope lines are parallel and rising. What does this indicate?

Correct Answer: The team is completing new work at the same rate as the scope is increasing.

In the context of Scrum, if the burnup (which shows the amount of work that has been completed) and scope lines (which represents the total amount of work) on a graph are parallel and rising, it implies that the team is adding and finishing new work at a consistent rate. What this means is, as new work is being added (increasing the scope), the team is also completing work at the same rate (increasing the burnup). The other options are incorrect because: 'The team is not completing any work' is not accurate as the burnup line is rising, which shows work is being completed. 'There are errors in the graph's plotting.' is incorrect, as there's no evidence presented suggesting errors in the graph. Lastly, 'The scope is decreasing alongside the progress.' is also wrong as the scope line is rising, not decreasing.

Question 3

The burnup chart shows frequent spikes above the trend line. As a ScrumMaster, how should you understand this scenario?

Correct Answer: Scope change or requirement addition likely happened during the sprint.

The burnup chart is a visual representation of the work done versus time. Frequent spikes above the trend line in the burnup chart indicate that the amount of work is increasing more than planned. From a ScrumMaster's perspective, this scenario suggests that there has likely been a scope change or requirement addition during the sprint, resulting in the team taking on more work. The other potential answers are not quite accurate. 'Over-performing and finishing more work than planned' would show as a steeper line but not necessarily spikes, 'incorrect data input' would affect the entire chart not just cause spikes, and 'team slacking during early part of sprints' would cause a flat line or decrease, not spikes.

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