Burn Down Chart

Correct Answer: To track the team's progress towards completing the sprint goal

The purpose of using a burn-down chart in Scrum is to track the team's progress towards completing the sprint goal. The chart visually represents the amount of work remaining in the sprint backlog over time. As the team completes tasks, the remaining work decreases, creating a downward sloping line. This allows the team to see if they are on track to complete the sprint goal within the allocated time. Comparing individual team member performance is not the focus of the burn-down chart. The chart also does not directly estimate work for the next sprint or determine the team's velocity for future sprint planning. While these may be influenced by the data in the burn-down chart, they are not its primary purpose.

Correct Answer: Team is facing difficulty in breaking down tasks into manageable units.

A consistent flattening of the curve on a burn-down chart halfway through the sprint, despite no reported blockers, likely indicates that the team is encountering difficulties with the tasks at hand. The most plausible explanation for this observation is that the team is facing difficulty in breaking down tasks into manageable units. If tasks are too large or not well-understood, progress can appear to stall because significant work may be in progress without reaching completion, which is necessary to mark tasks as done and reflect progress on the burn-down chart. The other options, while potential issues in a Scrum project, do not directly explain the observed flattening of the curve without progress. Increased scope due to newly identified tasks would typically cause the curve to rise, not flatten, as it would increase the total amount of work. Miscommunication about the sprint goal among team members might lead to disorganized work or misplaced effort, but it would likely result in more erratic progress rather than a consistent flattening. External dependencies not being resolved before the commencement of the sprint might delay some tasks, but this typically results in a noticeable initial lack of progress that improves once the dependencies are resolved, rather than a mid-sprint flattening.

Correct Answer: Work is not being completed at the expected rate

In a burn-down chart, a flat line during a sprint indicates that work is not being completed at the expected rate. The burn-down chart should show a steady decline in remaining work over the course of the sprint if the team is on track. A flat line means no progress is being made, so the team is falling behind on completing the committed work. The other answers are incorrect because they describe scenarios where work is being completed as expected or even ahead of schedule, which would not result in a flat line on the burn-down chart.