Burndown charts show current milestones and progress using plotted lines to show hours of work remaining and the amount of work that needs to be done over time. As time progresses, tasks decrease or “burn down” so you can see if your goal is on track and, if not, adjust as needed. Burndown charts are available with Standard plans and above.
In this overview, we’ll go over:
- Enabling charts
- Chart lines
- Updating milestones
Enabling charts
Admins and project admins can enable burndown charts by going to Project settings > General and selecting “Enable priorities, versions, and milestones” and “Enable charts.”
Once you create a milestone and group issues to that milestone, the burndown chart will show on the project homepage if the current date falls between the milestone’s start and end dates. Click on the chart to see a full-page view. Charts are automatically updated every five minutes. If not, try refreshing the screen or clearing your cache.
Chart lines
Burndown charts have three plotted lines:
- The actual line shows the current number of outstanding issues and decreases as issues are completed.
- The estimated line shows the estimated work progress and is based on an issue’s due date and estimated hours.
- The ideal line averages the number of issue hours over the number of days and is used to verify whether a plan is appropriate.
When a project milestone progresses as planned, the actual line is shown below the estimated line.
When a project milestone is not progressing as planned, the actual line is shown above the estimated line and a flame icon is shown.
When progress is moving forward quickly, Backlog highlights the top contributor.
Chart lines depend on the milestone timeline. To set the timeline's span, go to Project settings > Versions/Milestones > Add Version/Milestone and set the start and end dates. Learn more about adding and editing versions and milestones.
Good to know
If an issue’s estimated hours are left empty, they’ll count as “1” on the chart unless you enter “0.”Updating milestones
Milestones, due dates, and estimated hours can be updated on the issue details page.
