SCRUM: Creating a burn down charts using custom fields

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We will be doing a lot of SCRUM sprints. At the moment, there is no way to create a burn down chart in Asana.

We already can use number custom fields for story points (hour estimations). But no way yet to display it in a burn down chart.

Project progress (in the dashboard) now shows only number of tasks completed/added. That is useless in Scrum, as it gives no chance to do any time estimation. If we could choose to show the custom field in stead (story points, in our case), it would be exactly what we need.

Right now we’re starting developing a new project and I’m deciding between Jira (which is made for Scrum, but is chunky)) and Asana. I’ve been using Asana for years for many projects. I’d love to stick with Asana, please, give me some hope :smiley:

Any chance we will see it there?

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@Adam_Sabla thanks for starting a conversation about SCRUM!

I’ll start by telling you Asana’s process for managing burn down charts internally. We use custom fields for cost and then use the csv export to manually track and estimate velocity. A fun trick we use is: when using custom fields for cost we multi select tasks in a given sprint and the task pane sums up the points for us.

At this time Asana does not offer a burn down chart because we don’t have visual reporting for custom fields, but I assure you we are mindful of this as a customer need. For now I suggest that you use the process that our teams at Asana use for burn down charts - we have found custom fields and the csv export to be very powerful for us. If we can run our product and engineering teams in this way, I bed you’d be able to also. :smile:

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Hey @Alexis, thanks much for reply!

I’m glad to hear you’re “mindful” about ths :slight_smile:

when using custom fields for cost we multi select tasks in a given sprint and the task pane sums up the points for us

Yeah, I’ve discovered this as well just yesterday, good trick!

then use the csv export to manually track and estimate velocity.

Sounds like a lot of bureaucracy :smile: I was actually thinking about this, but I gave up on it. I guess we might give it a try.

Also, I checked your API and it seems it should be possible to create a “custom solution” burndown chart… just link the project, pull the custom fields and create the chart out of it.

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If you’re volunteering…I eagerly await this on github XD

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@Adam_Sabla give it a few more tries and see what you think :stuck_out_tongue: On the other hand, we’d be psyched to see a custom solution…as Caisha says, if you’re volunteering. Hehe. Our developer relations guys @Matt_Bramlage and @Jeff_Schneider might be interested in talking to you about this!

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Yes, indeed, @Adam_Sabla - this should totally be possible with our API. Custom Field Values will tell ya what the values are, and there is a due_on property on tasks (and due_at for those with due times); A + B plus a little charting magic ought to get you there!

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@Alexis I’ve just tried to export a CSV and it did not export it with the custom fields. Am I missing something? (like a checkbox? :smiley: )

Thanks @Matt_Bramlage ! Great, I see there are also due_date for projects. I’ve started to look around to find someone who would put it together, wish me luck :smiley:

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I’m inclined to ask you for a screenshot but I don’t want you to expose anything too private. Have you checked out this Guide article on exports?

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@Alexis I’ve seen someone else say that the Custom Field data wasn’t included as well. Is it supposed to be? Is there a reason (can’t be a guest or something else) why they wouldn’t be included?

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@Alexis I did it this way and no custom fields made it to the csv.

Here are the screenshots.

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Ah yes, that’s my mistake. Apparently we were doing some testing on this but viewing custom fields in a csv export is not actually a feature. So sorry for the confusion!

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Hey everyone!

My totally awesome friend Samuel have build a burndown chart for all of us!

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It took him roughly one afternoon. It’s an early prototype, but it works!

Here’s the link:
http://9029043904389349834.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

I’ve also recorded this short video about how to set it up:
Video Tutorial

Briefly how to:

In your asana:

  1. in your sprint project create a number custom field and call it Estimate
  2. create a token (My Profile settings > Apps > Manage developer apps > Create a new personal token)
  3. copy the togen

then in burndown:

  1. paste the token and press load, wait a sec so it loads the workspaces
  2. choose workspace
  3. choose the project
  4. set the start & end date of the sprint (on the right)
  5. press “load”

Important Notes:

  • now it works only with number custom fields named Estimate (if it’s not named Estimate, it won’t work).
  • please keep on mind that it is an early prototype, no fancy design, missing current date indicator, etc…

Any feedback is very much welcome :slight_smile:

@Alexis, @Caisha!

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I’m already so excited! I want to take the time to play with this and give more feedback. But for starters, :heart_eyes:

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@Adam_Sabla This is way cool. For other users I’ll clarify that your project ID is the last big set of numbers in your project’s URL.

I tried to use the feature for one of my community planning projects and only see this. It feels off :slight_smile: Can you advise on how I can troubleshoot?

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@Alexis

No need to fill out the project ID. The number is added automatically after you choose the project from the dropdown on left.

Also,

  • have you created number custom fields and named it “Estimate”?
  • have you set Estimate value in at least one task to some number?

Now the name of the custom field is hardcoded so it works only with number custom fields named Estimate (if it’s not named Estimate, it won’t work).

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@Adam_Sabla I do have a custom field called estimate. I also set the task value in at least one field. However, I did not see an option to select a project in a drop down. I only saw the option to select the workspace. Looks like that could be the issue.

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Would you mind sharing source code so we could take it from there and adapt to our needs/host on our infrastructure?

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I tried getting the burn down chart to work for me as well. No luck. It would be so nice to have this functionality available in asana. Any updates @Adam_Sabla?

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@Alexis I’m so sorry for a late reply!! Hmm that’s weird. How long have you waited after you selected the workspace? It takes couple seconds to load the projects after you select the workspace. But that should be a matter of seconds, not minutes… Could you try this once again and wait a little longer? :slight_smile: I know it sound’s dumb, but that’s all I got right now :smiley:

@Michael_M Sure! My friend who has built it is abroad on a trip at the moment and will be back next week. Then we’ll make some additional changes and I suppose we will put it on GitHub (but I can’t really talk for my friend).

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@Adam1 we’re testing it. Hopefully next week we’ll add some fixes.

Btw @Michael_M & @Adam1 , have you tried the current version or do you have the same issue as Alexis?