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  • 1.  Burndown - Above the line / Below the line

    Posted Jan 15, 2020 07:36 AM
      |   view attached
    Each week I compile a presentation of burndowns for our teams. When doing this, we found it valuable to identify how many hours above or below the line each project is. 

    This comes with administration overhead since the only way I know to obtain the +/- is to manually calculate the difference between the "To Do" hours and the ideal burndown line.

    Is there a data field in Rally or easier way to accurately calculate the over / under on a burndown for a given day on a project?

    I've attached a picture to place some context around my question. 

    Thank you in advance.


  • 2.  RE: Burndown - Above the line / Below the line

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jan 16, 2020 02:35 PM
    Edited by Nik Antonelli Jan 16, 2020 02:35 PM
    Hi Jim,

    I have been thinking about your issue and I am wondering how you would describe the value you are getting from knowing the daily difference between the actuals and the target. Could you give me one or two sentences on how you use this information and how it helps?

    I have written many apps based on what customers want or ask for. Usually, I have to get a sense of the 'why' before I can suggest solutions.

    Thanks,

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    Nik
    Rally Sales Engineer
    Rally Software
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  • 3.  RE: Burndown - Above the line / Below the line

    Posted Jan 16, 2020 02:48 PM
      |   view attached
    We use the value to clearly identify the number of hours +/- on the trend line in presentations as sometimes the scaling can be hard to identify the exact number. On Tuesday mornings we gather the burndowns for each track / workspace and manualy calculate the difference between the TODO bar and the ideal burndown for the day before which is Monday. We then overlay that on the copied burndown with a graphic. Calculating that number for 25+ burndowns tends to be time consuming. If there were  a way to identify the +/- of the trendline, that would help save a lot of time.  I've attached a screenshot to provide more context.


  • 4.  RE: Burndown - Above the line / Below the line

    Posted Jan 17, 2020 08:26 AM
    Jim, are you using the difference to make decisions about how teams operate for the next week? Like Nik, I'm interested in the actions you take based on the data you're currently calculating manually. 

    Ted
    Not a Rally engineer, just a guy interested in burndowns


  • 5.  RE: Burndown - Above the line / Below the line

    Posted Jan 17, 2020 10:48 AM
    In our weekly status meeting we use the difference to visually display how the teams are trending. Identifying the numbers above or below the line help all team see the trend to  start productive conversations to get back on track if we are over or even see if one team well under the  line might be able to lend a hand to another team while giving an executive summary in the form of the burndown.


  • 6.  RE: Burndown - Above the line / Below the line

    Posted Jan 17, 2020 01:42 PM
    @Nik Antonelli - Checking to see if I answered your question. Any help would be appreciated. ​


  • 7.  RE: Burndown - Above the line / Below the line
    Best Answer

    Broadcom Employee
    Posted Jan 17, 2020 01:55 PM
    Hi Jim,

    Sort of.

    If I put my Agile Coach hat on, I would say that the metric you are looking to generate is not one that will give you the most insight to what needs to be done. To give you a case in point, the burndown chart shows that you are six days into the sprint and not one story has been Accepted. This really sets off my thought processes as to how your team is working and how they are interacting with the Product Owner, Scrum Master and other Stake Holders.

    Focussing on the detail  (in this case hours) is usually symptomatic of a different problem that centres around predictability and throughput.

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    Nik
    Rally Sales Engineer
    Rally Software
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