Learn Scrum Metrics (PSM I) with Interactive Flashcards
Master key concepts in Scrum Metrics through our interactive flashcard system. Click on each card to reveal detailed explanations and enhance your understanding.
Velocity
Velocity is a metric that predicts how much work Scrum Team can complete during a sprint. It's calculated at the end of the sprint by summing up the Points for all fully completed User Stories. Velocity is used for planning purposes and is unique to each team. Since the way of estimating tasks can differ from one team to another, comparing velocity metrics across different squads might not give the expected insights. For velocity to become useful, the team's composition, work patterns, and estimation manner should remain consistent over time, and it will make their Velocity predictable and a reliable forecast tool.
Sprint Burn-down Chart
The Sprint Burn-down Chart is a graphical representation of the work left to do versus time. The x-axis represents time, and the y-axis represents the amount of work left to do. The downward slope shows work completed. If the team is working at a predictable pace, the chart would be a straight line. If the team is over or under its estimation, it'll be visible in the slope of the line. The Burn-down is a powerful tool to visualize the progress and to anticipate whether the tasks will be achieved within the expected time frame.
Cumulative Flow Diagram
A Cumulative Flow Diagram (CFD) shows workflow changes over time and provides insights into issues regarding throughput and variability. It's a stack area chart that visualizes ongoing work and helps to find out how much work is done, ongoing, and in the backlog, how long each task typically takes, and whether there’s a risk of delay due to increasing work pressure. Understanding these parameters allows the team to address bottlenecks, smooth out workloads, and reduce wait times.
Cycle Time
Cycle Time helps to gauge the efficiency of a process or system. In Scrum, it's the time taken from when work starts on a User Story until it's ready for delivery. Shorter Cycle Times represent a well-functioning delivery process. To improve Cycle Time, teams look at reducing inefficiencies like wait times, task switching, or non-value-adding activities. Monitoring this metric over time allows teams to forecast project delivery and helps to manage stakeholders' expectations.
Throughput
Throughput is the number of User Stories completed per sprint and helps to measure the team’s productivity. It's calculated by counting the number of User Stories moved to done status within a sprint. Tracking throughput helps the team to understand their productivity levels across different time periods. Together with Cycle Time, it is a key driver for optimizing a team’s flow to deliver more value quickly, predictably, and sustainably.
Release Burn-up Chart
The release burn-up chart helps track real progress over time in relation to a fixed scope. It is especially useful for larger projects over long periods. Scrum teams use the release burn-up chart to visualize how much work has been completed and how much work remains in the release backlog. It provides insights into scope changes and trending towards the release goal, which allows for proactive decision making and adjustment of plans. It can provide a visual representation of how achievable the project goal is, given current performance and conditions.
Lead Time
Lead Time, in Scrum metrics, refers to the total time taken from the moment a new task is added to the backlog to the moment it is finished. In a broader context, it can also include the time spent waiting to be pulled into a sprint. This metric is especially useful in estimating the time that will be taken for future tasks, thus aiding the prediction and planning process. It takes into consideration delays due to dependencies, waiting times, reviews, testing etc. Whether the lead time for a task is long or short is not as important as its predictability. A stable lead time enables better forecasting.
Sprint Goal Success
Sprint Goal Success is a measurement of how often the scrum team is successful in meeting their defined Sprint Goals. A Sprint Goal is an objective set for a Sprint, which can be completed within the timeline of that Sprint. This metric gives a clear idea about the team's performance and consistency. It is an indicator of the team's ability to plan and execute effectively. Though it does not dive into specifics, a high Sprint Goal Success rate indicates a high-performing Scrum team.
Work In Progress (WIP)
Work In Progress, abbreviated as WIP, refers to the number of task items that are currently in progress within a sprint. The concept behind this metric is to limit the number of tasks that are in the 'In Progress' stage. Limiting WIP is a common practice in Agile and Scrum methodologies to increase efficiency, improve focus and reduce the waste according to Lean principles. The aim is to accelerate the delivery time by alleviating bottlenecks earlier in the process.
Escaped Defects
Escaped Defects are the bugs or defects that are not caught during the testing phase but are found by the customers or users once the product is released. This scrum metric plays a vital role in probing the quality of the product and the effectiveness of the testing phase. A high count of escaped defects shows weaknesses in the testing process and suggests a need for improvement. In addition, it is essential in managing customer satisfaction and the organization's brand reputation.
Team Velocity
Team Velocity measures the amount of work a team can handle during a single Sprint and is a useful tool for forecasting. Based on the estimation of the team's future velocity, the Product Owner can make a realistic forecast of a product release date. It is calculated by summing all the story points completed during the sprint. The metric helps with future planning, estimation, and resource allocation. While it is unique to each team, it becomes more accurate and reliable as the team continues to work together on multiple sprints.
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