Tracking Sprint progress without using Time Spent?

[Baylor Peak]

Hello all,

I am a new Scrum Master for a small team of developers.

Do ya'll have any suggestions on how we can use Jira to track task progress without having the developers entering in "Time Spent"? - we are not looking to micromanage our folks if possible unless there is no other way to track progress without them entering time spent.

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Baylor Peak -- Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

A few simple ways to do this without time-tracking are based on the team maintaining a low work in progress (WIP) count:

• As a team, pay attention to impediments and progress during the daily scrum, and help the team to review the board, right to left (from done to not-started).  Speak up and ask when things seem stalled.
• When relative sizing issues, as with story points, look at the built-in burn charts, and look for patterns.  These are sometimes called "sprint signatures".
• When not sizing, look at the board and the count of items in different steps/statuses.  (Jira does this for you  :^) Early in the sprint there is more on the left than the right.  Mid-point of the sprint, it could be more even.  Near sprint-end, most should be on the right side.  Otherwise, something is up and worth team discussion.
• When progress is being made and is not visible on the board, discuss why.  Perhaps the work items are too large, or there is work happening which is not on the board.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Baylor Peak]

Thank you sir