Improving Sprint Planning with Sprint Reports in Jira

Accessing the Report

The Sprint Performance Report is available only on boards where sprints are enabled. This ensures the report is relevant and valuable for teams actively using Jira's sprint planning and execution features.

Steps to Access the Report:

1. Navigate to Your Desired Board: Go to the board where you want to view the Sprint Performance Report.

2. Click Reports: Select the "Reports" option in the board menu.

3. Select Sprint Performance Report: From the list of available reports, choose the "Sprint Performance Report."

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Alternative Method:

• Active Sprints or Backlog: You can access the report directly from the Active Sprints or Backlog view by clicking on the "Sprint Report" option in the top right corner.

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For Next-Gen Projects:

• Shortcuts: Next-gen projects offer additional convenience with shortcuts to quickly access the Sprint Performance Report.

Reflecting on Your Current Practices

Before we dive deeper into the specifics of the Sprint Report, take a moment to reflect on your current sprint planning and execution processes. Consider the following questions:

• How do you currently track your team's performance?

• What metrics do you use to measure success?

• How often do you review and analyze your sprint data?

• What challenges have you faced in identifying bottlenecks and areas for improvement?

By reflecting on these questions, you can better understand how the Sprint Performance Report can address your needs and enhance your team's efficiency.

Generating the Sprint Performance Report

Please note that in Sprint Report, you can choose one of three options for generating the report (based on the estimation method selected on your board):

• Story Points. The report calculates data based on the story points field set for each issue in your sprint. Story points are a relative measure of the effort required to complete a task.

• Issue Count. The report calculates data based on the number of issues in your sprint. This method focuses on the quantity of tasks rather than their relative complexity.

• Original Time. The report calculates data based on the time estimate field set for each issue in your sprint. This method focuses on the time required to complete each task.

Key Metrics in the Sprint Performance Report

The Sprint Report provides a wealth of data that can be used to analyze and improve your sprint planning.

🏃‍♂️ Team Velocity

Team Velocity measures the work a team can complete in a sprint. It is typically calculated based on the sum of story points, issue count, or original time estimates for completed tasks.

Importance:

• Setting Realistic Goals: Understanding your team's velocity helps you set more realistic goals for future sprints. By knowing how much work your team can handle, you can avoid overcommitment and ensure that tasks are completed on time.

• Capacity Planning: Velocity data lets you plan your team's capacity more effectively. You can allocate resources and tasks based on historical performance, leading to better project management.

• Continuous Improvement: Tracking velocity over multiple sprints helps identify trends and areas for improvement. You can see if your team's performance increases, decreases, or remains consistent and adjust accordingly.

🗂️ Workload

The workload metric reflects the total work assigned to the team during the sprint. This can be measured regarding story points, issue count, or original time estimates.

• Identifying Overcommitment: By analyzing the workload, you can identify if your team is taking on more tasks than they can handle. This helps in preventing burnout and ensuring a balanced workload distribution.

• Resource Allocation: Understanding the workload allows you to allocate resources more effectively. You can ensure team members are assigned tasks that align with their availability and expertise.

• Load Balancing: The workload metric helps balance the workload among team members, ensuring that no one is overburdened while others are underutilized.

💯 Completion Rate

The completion rate is the percentage of tasks completed during the sprint compared to the tasks committed.

• Highlighting Areas for Improvement: A low completion rate indicates the team struggles to meet its goals. This can highlight areas the team needs to improve, such as better estimation, more realistic goal setting, or improved task prioritization.

• Performance Monitoring: Tracking the completion rate over multiple sprints helps monitor the team's performance and identify trends. A consistently low completion rate may indicate underlying issues that must be addressed.

• Motivation: A high completion rate can boost team morale and motivation. It shows that the team is meeting its goals and progressing, which can be a powerful motivator.

📅✅ Committed vs. Completed

Committed: The total amount of work the team committed to completing during the sprint.

Completed: The actual amount of work that was completed during the sprint.

• Understanding Capacity: Comparing the committed workload to the completed workload helps you better understand your team's capacity. If the completed workload is consistently lower than the committed workload, it may indicate that the team is overestimating its capacity.

• Realistic Planning: By analyzing the difference between committed and completed work, you can set more realistic goals for future sprints. This helps avoid overcommitment and ensures that tasks are completed on time.

• Identifying Bottlenecks: A significant difference between committed and completed work can highlight bottlenecks in the process. This allows you to address these issues and improve the team's efficiency.

🔄 Scope Change

Scope change refers to any changes in the project scope during the sprint, such as adding or modifying new tasks.

• Managing Scope Creep: The report tracks changes in the sprint scope, helping you identify and manage scope creep. By understanding how often and why the scope changes, you can take steps to minimize disruptions and keep the team focused.

• Adaptability: Tracking scope change helps you assess the team's adaptability. If the team can handle scope changes effectively, they are flexible and can adapt to changing requirements.

• Risk Management: Understanding scope change helps in risk management. You can identify potential risks associated with scope changes and take proactive measures to mitigate them.