How to Calculate Burndown Rate

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Agile Burndown Rate Calculator

Sprint Analysis

Ideal Burn Rate (Per Day): 0
Actual Burn Rate (Per Day): 0
Required Burn Rate (To Finish): 0
Projected Completion: –
function calculateBurndown() { var totalWork = parseFloat(document.getElementById('totalWork').value); var workCompleted = parseFloat(document.getElementById('workCompleted').value); var totalDays = parseFloat(document.getElementById('totalDays').value); var daysElapsed = parseFloat(document.getElementById('daysElapsed').value); if (isNaN(totalWork) || isNaN(workCompleted) || isNaN(totalDays) || isNaN(daysElapsed) || totalDays 0 ? workCompleted / daysElapsed : 0; var remainingWork = totalWork – workCompleted; var remainingDays = totalDays – daysElapsed; var requiredRate = remainingDays > 0 ? remainingWork / remainingDays : 0; document.getElementById('idealRate').innerText = idealRate.toFixed(2) + " units"; document.getElementById('actualRate').innerText = actualRate.toFixed(2) + " units"; document.getElementById('requiredRate').innerText = remainingDays > 0 ? requiredRate.toFixed(2) + " units" : "N/A (Time Expired)"; var statusText = ""; var statusColor = ""; if (remainingWork = requiredRate) { statusText = "On Track"; statusColor = "#5cb85c"; } else { statusText = "Behind Schedule"; statusColor = "#d9534f"; } var statusElement = document.getElementById('projectedStatus'); statusElement.innerText = statusText; statusElement.style.color = statusColor; document.getElementById('results').style.display = 'block'; }

How to Calculate Burndown Rate in Agile

In Agile project management, the burndown rate is a critical metric used to track the progress of a sprint. It measures the velocity at which a team completes tasks (usually measured in story points or hours) relative to the time remaining in the sprint.

The Core Burndown Formulas

To accurately assess your project health, you need to understand three different types of burn rates:

  • Ideal Burndown Rate: This is the baseline. It assumes you complete an equal amount of work every day.
    Formula: Total Work / Total Sprint Days
  • Actual Burndown Rate: This is the speed your team is actually moving at.
    Formula: Total Work Completed / Days Elapsed
  • Required Burndown Rate: This is the speed you must maintain from today to finish everything on time.
    Formula: (Total Work – Work Completed) / Remaining Days

Real-World Example

Imagine your team has a 10-day sprint with 80 Story Points committed. After Day 4, you have completed 24 points.

  • Ideal Rate: 80 / 10 = 8 points per day.
  • Actual Rate: 24 / 4 = 6 points per day.
  • Required Rate: (80 – 24) / 6 remaining days = 9.33 points per day.

Insight: Because your Actual Rate (6) is lower than the Ideal Rate (8), you are "behind the curve." To finish all work, your team needs to increase their velocity to 9.33 points per day for the rest of the sprint.

Why Track Burndown?

Tracking these rates daily allows Scrum Masters and Project Managers to identify "scope creep" early or recognize when the team has over-committed. If the Required Burn Rate becomes unrealistically high, it's a signal to negotiate the scope of the sprint immediately rather than waiting until the final day.

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