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Scrum Basics

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The Taskboard

2:49 with Matt Anthes-Washburn

A taskboard provides an easy way to communicate about work during the course of the Sprint.

Key Terms

Burn Rate: the rate of completion of tasks in a sprint
Taskboard: a tool for communicating the progress on tasks within a sprint

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    The sprint backlog contains everything that needs to be done in a sprint. 0:00
    Many teams break backlog items down into tasks so 0:05
    they can manage the work of the sprint. 0:08
    A task board contains each of these tasks and their status. 0:11
    This provides an easy way to communicate about work 0:15
    during the course of the sprint. 0:18
    Building a task board is easy. 0:20
    It starts with a sprint backlog. 0:21
    At the start of the sprint, the team collaborates to try to break down 0:24
    each backlog item, and describe tasks that need to be done. 0:27
    Generally a task is a unit of work that can be accomplished by one or 0:31
    two team members. 0:35
    Usually, it's something that will take less than half a day. 0:37
    If a task seems longer than that, 0:41
    it may help to break that task down into smaller bits to keep each task manageable. 0:43
    If you're working with a physical backlog and cards on the wall, 0:49
    the task board is literally a board. 0:52
    You start with the product backlog where items are printed on index cards. 0:55
    Next, create columns to place stickies, 0:59
    with each representing a stage in the process for the task. 1:02
    Commonly, teams will use To Do, Doing and Done. 1:06
    Here is what the task board looks like. 1:10
    On this task board, the items in the Sprint Backlog are on the left, 1:13
    and the task stickies are in columns to the right. 1:16
    Representing their status, To Do, Doing and Done. 1:20
    During the sprint, the task board is an important communication tool. 1:25
    Team members move tasks from the To Do to 1:29
    the Doing column as they claim each task and start their work. 1:32
    As they finish, team members move the task to the Done column. 1:36
    The task board is an artifact that anchors the daily stand-up. 1:40
    Team members answer three important questions. 1:45
    What did I do yesterday? 1:47
    What do I plan to do today? 1:49
    And is there anything blocking me? 1:51
    Pointing to the position of the task on the task board 1:54
    provides context for the team. 1:57
    It can also draw attention to tasks that remain in order to finish an item. 1:59
    This helps the team coordinate the work of a sprint. 2:04
    It's possible to use the task board as a way to estimate the work done and 2:07
    the rate it's being done, or burn rate. 2:12
    The most important value this has is to provide an early alert 2:15
    if the team is getting off track and is at risk of not completing a sprint. 2:18
    This can come in the form of burn down charts, where each day, 2:23
    the team graphs the number of tasks remaining. 2:27
    This provides a visual for their progress in completing the sprint. 2:30
    Burn down charts are not a formal part of Scrum, so 2:34
    we won't get into a lot of detail on them here. 2:38
    Whether or not your team tracks their burn rate, 2:40
    a glance at the task board at any point in the sprint 2:43
    should give you a pretty good idea of the status of the work. 2:46

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