Release Burndown vs. Velocity Chart - Completed Points

David Coyle April 6, 2016

Why does the release burndown and velocity chart show different "completed" values per sprints?  

Velocity Chart (Sprint 23) = 58.5 sp completed.  

Velocity_Chart.jpg

Release Burn Down (Sprint 23) = 71 sp completed.  

image2016-4-6 18:48:5.png

This is making it difficult to determine which reported velocity is the "real" velocity.  

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

3 answers

2 votes
Michael Partyka
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April 6, 2016

Hi,

The velocity can be estimated as the average, over several recent sprints, of the sum of the estimates for the amount of work completed by a team per sprint — so in the chart above, the velocity = (37 + 47 + 50 +57) / 4 = 48. A team's recent velocity can be useful in helping to predict how much work can be completed by the team in a future sprint.


Burndown:

http://www.agilenutshell.com/burndown

David Coyle April 7, 2016

Thanks Michal for replying.  

I'm still confused as to why the Release Burn Down, for the same team and same sprint, is reporting different numbers.

In the release burn down, it's reporting 71 sp as completed for sprint 23.

In the velocity chart, it's reporting 58.5 sp as completed for sprint 23.

If both charts are reporting different 'completed' numbers, then both charts are reporting different velocities.

I'd just like to know which report I should rely on for accurate data.  

Leena Keshwani November 1, 2017

I think just like Michal said you did burn down 71 points that sprint but the rolling average velocity was calculated to be 58.5 at that point in time.

0 votes
David Purdie March 6, 2020

Hi David.


I had the same problem and found out that if the resolution is not "fixed" ("duplicate" in my case) then it counts in Release Burndown but does not count in velocity chart.

I removed the SP estimates for the duplicate stories (which had been left in error) and the two aligned.

Cheers
Dave

0 votes
Danut M _StonikByte_
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April 8, 2017

Try the Great Gadgets add-on (see https://marketplace.atlassian.com/plugins/com.stonikbyte.great.gadgets.plugin/cloud/overview). It offer simple charts for both release burndown/burnup and team velocity.

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