Slice and dice your Jira velocity chart using sprint metrics + sprint breakdown combo

[#1]

Advanced sprint metrics alone are an excellent tool for measuring sprint health - you can read about them in my previous post. But when we add a granular view, they become even more powerful - a source of truth for tracking progress, identifying bottlenecks, and ensuring that agile teams stay on track to meet their goals.

This is how the Breakdown feature was born.

6 ways you can analyze sprints with the Breakdown feature

To break down your sprint data in Broken Build’s velocity charts, do the following: 1) click the sprint you want to examine so the sprint metrics will roll down, 2) click the sprint metric in the list, and voila! The advanced filters will appear right below the sprint metrics.

Each sprint can be broken down by 11 filters:

• Board

• Status

• Issue Type

• Project

• Epic

• Release

• Priority

• Rollover Count

• Assignee

• Label

• Component

There are three levels of granulating the sprint: sprint metrics + breakdown level 1 + breakdown level 2 (which you can set up in settings).

Example: you can break down the completed work by release + by assignee, or by component + by issue type, creating combinations that work for you.

But what does it mean in practice?

We have prepared some common use cases:

1. Prioritize tasks

Want to see how much effort is being put into different types of issues, such as bugs, stories, and tasks? Filtering by issue type helps identify whether the team spends too much time on bug fixes and not enough on new feature development. You can also filter further down by priority to show tasks based on their type and urgency.

Breakdown by: Issue type + Priority combo.

2. Improve visibility

Suppose you work in a Scaled Agile environment and have multiple teams working on different boards within the same project. In that case, you want a clear picture of how tasks are distributed among these teams.

Breakdown by: Board + Issue type combo.

3. Balance the workload

Going further down, you can check on each team member and see if the tasks are distributed evenly inside the team and nobody burns out.

Breakdown by: Assignee + Issue type combo.

4. Never overlook a critical issue

During a sprint, you want to ensure high-priority tasks are addressed first. Filtering by priority helps you focus on critical issues that need immediate attention from the team. Also, you should keep an eye on the tasks repeatedly carried over from sprint to sprint.

Breakdown by: Priority, Rollover Count.

5. Track the progress of a release

By breaking down the velocity chart by release and issue type, you can get meaningful insights on the release progress sprint by sprint.

Breakdown by: Release + Issue Type.

6. Advanced reporting with labels and components

If you’re focused on a particular label or component, using advanced filters allows you to see which areas receive adequate attention and measure their impact, ensuring strategic goals are met effectively.

Breakdown by: Component / Label.

To avoid making this post too long for App Central, we reviewed only 6 use cases, but you can create up to 55 combos to slice and dice your metrics and finally get to the bottom of your sprints.

The breakdown feature is available in Agile Velocity Chart Gadget and the Agile Reports and Gadget apps. Give it a go with a free 30-day trial.

[Janice]

Hi @Vasyl Krokha _Broken Build_ , thank you for sharing this information with the community! :) A friendly reminder to the group that guidelines (#4) ask you not feature your own articles.

[Vasyl Krokha _Broken Build_]

@Janice I overlooked this, sorry - will remove the link now.

[Alina Maksymova_Broken Build_]

More about 10 advanced sprint metrics Agile teams need to track - in Broken Build's previous post.