Scrum Board

A Scrum Board is a tool that helps Teams make Sprint Backlog items visible. The board can take many physical and virtual forms but it performs the same function regardless of how it looks. The board is updated by the Team and shows all items that need to be completed for the current Sprint.

How Does it Work?

1. During Sprint Planning, each User Story in the Sprint Backlog is written as a task on a Post-It note and put in priority order in the To Do column.
2. Then during the Sprint, Team Members decide which items they would like to complete. They take the Post-it and move it to the Work In Progress column.
3. When they complete the task, they move it to Done.
4. If the Team is located in the same space, it is best to have a physical Task Board. The board should be located in a central area where people can easily see and access it. In many organizations, the Task Board replaces the water cooler as the place where people gather and chat. This in turn may lead to a more collaborative work space.
5. If the Team is spread across multiple locations, there are a number of off the shelf programs available. Virtual Task Boards often have lots of value added features that allow Product Owners and Scrum Masters to create and array of metrics to better help improve the Team’s process. Some Teams use both types of boards to get the respective advantages of each.