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Scrum Planning Materials - Artifacts
In an earlier article in this series, discussing the project process in Scrum, I made mention of the four Scrum artifacts: Product Backlog, Release Burndown, Sprint Backlog, and Sprint Burndown. In the next article in this series, I will focus specifically on the product backlog, though I will discuss it briefly here.
This Product Backlog template is a useful sheet that allows you to track Story Points (action items) by priority of story size vs. value. To the side of this template is a place where you can insert your calculations and estimates for the Release Burndown. You can also track what Sprint Number will have which items for the product backlog.
Alternatively, you could use an Excel worksheet and generate index cards for your story from the worksheet using this Scrum index card generator as your product backlog. The information contained on this sheet would include the ID of the story item, the importance, the name, notes describing the story item and how the test of the item would be performed.
The Sprint backlog template will contain the story id, a name for the story, the status of the story point, size, sprint, priority and comments that come up during the Sprint.
Burndown charts should have a chart that demonstrates the work remaining after each Sprint in a project. If you are looking for a Sprint Burndown template, you will want to be able to demonstrate the work remaining at the end of each day's work.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is a specialized version of agile project management methodologies. Scrum projects are characterized by a product backlog - a list of tasks that come up while the sprint (a highly focused period where tasks are completed, generally running 30 days) is underway. The idea behind Scrum is to create a streamlined project management process that produces a quality end product. Scrum methodology was developed in the early 1990's with a framework that is as applicable to complex projects as it is to simple projects.