Excel is the only program you need to survive in IT. So, how about a template for tracking tasks in an Agile Scrum project?
Why Scrum?
If you are looking for the answer on why agile / scrum -
- You are in the wrong site
- That is well beyond the scope of this post
In short: Scrum is a framework to run your project using Agile methodologies. Scrum’s objectives are -
- Self-organise
- Learn by doing things and through experience
- Continuously improve
Read more on Atlassian’s site.
The stated objectives for Scrum need a simple to use, centralised store - which an Excel document is generally not. But, I don’t let all that come in the way to create a beautiful template.
Download Excel Template
If you like to live on the edge and download from any website -
Download free Scrum Excel-template.
If you are not that naive, you can check out what this template can do (or even copy the workbook) on Google Sheets.
See the action on Google Docs.
The template is -
- free to use for any kind of project
- released to public domain - see the sole exception in the terms below
You can stop reading now, and get back to work in 99.99% of the cases.
Why use Excel to track Scrum and why this template?
- There are smaller teams that rely on part-time developers who don’t want overhead
- Small teams may discuss on “stuff” and move on with work, and don’t particularly care about documenting everything
- Simple projects may not have the budget to organise things
And yes, I know that these are excuses for not creating a “usable” tool. But organisations continue to live in a bubble.
So, here we are.
Using this template you can -
- track projects and sprints
- track backlog, impediments and retrospective remarks
- record effort against tasks (which can relate back to backlog)
- summarise effort and show beautiful charts
There are no fancy formulae, macros, and automation to take the dog on a walk when you work.
All that said, I think no one should use Excel templates for use cases like this. But I really can’t quite preach something else when I have been an ardent fan of their simplicity.
Terms of Use
No terms, really. You can do what you want with this template.
But, I would appreciate if you could donate a dollar or more to the nearest charity, or to a person in need.
