Calculate remaining sprint work and projected completion based on burndown rate.
Sprint burndown tracks work remaining against the team's demonstrated pace: remaining = total_points − completed_points, velocity = completed_points ÷ sprints_elapsed. Projecting remaining work forward at the current velocity estimates how many more sprints are needed at the current pace, while the required daily burn rate shows what pace is needed to finish the current sprint's remaining work in the days left.
ideal_remaining = total_points × (1 - elapsed_days / sprint_days)
Velocity from a single sprint can be skewed by holidays, one-off distractions, or estimation variance; averaging completed points across several recent sprints gives a more stable, representative pace for forecasting.
It signals the current sprint's remaining work likely won't be finished in the time left at the team's historical pace — either the scope needs to be trimmed, more capacity needs to be added, or the sprint goal needs to be renegotiated.
No — story points are a relative, team-specific estimation unit; comparing velocity in points directly between teams is a common anti-pattern since each team's point scale is calibrated differently.
A burndown chart shows remaining work trending toward zero over time; a burnup chart shows completed work trending toward the total scope line — burnup has the advantage of visibly showing scope changes (the total line moving) that burndown can obscure.