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Sprint Backlog Template for Efficient Development Teams
Sprint backlog template for more efficient development teams
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Sprint backlog template for more efficient development teams

Run your team's scrum and sprint planning meetings efficiently with this sprint backlog template for agile project managers.
Laila Robinson
This template was built with Coda, the all-in-one doc that brings words, data, and teams together. Play with the template below or copy the doc to save your edits.

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Name
Priority
Story Points
PR
Date Completed
Completed
Sprint
1
Refine proto build
Medium
20
James Booth
11/1/21
Sprint 5
2
2nd round testing
Low
30
Polly Rose
11/2/21
Sprint 5
3
Web copy draft
Low
50
Mary Jones
11/3/21
Sprint 5
4
Coordinate product photo shoot
Low
60
James Booth
11/4/21
Sprint 5
5
Create layout for packaging
Medium
45
Polly Rose
11/5/21
Sprint 5
6
Build backend support for live "close-follow"
High
50
Mary Jones
11/6/21
Sprint 5
7
Review proto build
High
60
Polly Rose
11/7/21
Sprint 5
8
Final draft of visual mockups
High
55
James Booth
11/8/21
Sprint 5
9
Stress test packing in shipping simulation
High
70
Mary Jones
11/9/21
Sprint 5
10
Design review of PVT unit
Medium
60
Buck Dubois
11/10/21
Sprint 5
There are no rows in this table
500
Sum
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A sprint backlog is a document software development teams use in the
agile project management methodology
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to provide a roadmap for the upcoming sprint. It's an integral part of the sprint planning process and is often used in
daily scrum meetings
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to keep the entire team aligned around what's happening when and how the sprint is progressing overall. But man, can sprint backlogs be a pain to create and maintain.
So, we went ahead and created a sprint backlog template for you. Like other
project management templates
⁠
, customization is key, so feel free to make a copy of this document and start editing it to your needs.

👉 Get started with this sprint backlog template.
Copy this template
⁠
⁠

Otherwise, keep reading, and we'll explain our thoughts behind this template, why we made it the way we did, and how you can make it your own.

What is a sprint backlog template?

A sprint backlog template is a document you can reuse in your sprint planning and scrum meetings to quickly create and easily manage your sprint backlog. Templatizing your sprint backlog allows your scrum team to develop a consistent, repeatable process around planning and executing each sprint.
Because your sprint backlog is pulled from
user stories
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in
the product backlog
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, the template you use should be
relatable to these other documents
⁠
, allowing them all to "speak" to one another.
At the same time, the template should accommodate collaboration and input from the entire development team. Even though the scrum master or the product owner has significant sway over the sprint backlog, the developers themselves need to be able to make daily, granular updates as a part of the daily scrum.
All these characteristics keep the sprint team and the sprint's stakeholders aligned around what work is happening during a sprint without having to reinvent the wheel every two weeks.

What should a sprint backlog template include?

A sprint backlog has a big responsibility both in the initial sprint planning stages as well as each daily scrum meeting. Here are six characteristics a sprint backlog template should include to fulfill its role.

Sprint goals and deadlines.

At the most basic level, the sprint backlog template should explain the goals,
milestones
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, and deadlines of the sprint. As a central document that the team will refer to daily, the sprint backlog should help the scrum master or product manager communicate all the sprint's core criteria clearly and consistently throughout the sprint.

Requirements and priorities.

The sprint backlog should also align the whole team around the overall vision and context of the sprint. Each sprint is one step along the path to a great product, and the sprint backlog should serve as a daily reminder of how each little task contributes to that journey. Specifically, a sprint backlog template should have space for clear requirements and how to approach task prioritization.

Resources.

All available resources should also have a place in the sprint backlog template. Keeping tabs on the
time, money, and other resources
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the team uses up will help later as you analyze the burndown rate.

Roles and task owners.

As you take user stories from the product backlog into the sprint backlog and start breaking them down into tasks, you should assign owners to each task. In your daily scrum meetings, these owners will provide updates on the progress of the tasks. These updates, in aggregate, show the progress of the sprint towards its stated goals. In addition to task owners, the sprint backlog can also serve as a central place to list out the roles of all team members and stakeholders, from the product owner to the project manager to the intern.

Estimated effort.

The sprint backlog template should also include space for each task owner to estimate the amount of effort involved with each task. Altogether, this will approximate how much work the team can realistically complete during the sprint.

Burndown chart.

As the sprint progresses, a
burndown chart
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(not to be confused with
a burn up chart
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) will keep track of how much work is left and how much time there is left to complete it. Daily scrum meetings are where the value of the burndown chart comes to life as it gives every stakeholder an easy-to-understand representation of sprint progress. A burndown chart is typically a line chart, but it can also be a Gantt chart.

👉 Get started with this sprint backlog template.
Copy this template
⁠
⁠

After you copy this template, you can utilize this free sprint backlog template for your team’s sprint planning. In this template you can visualize your team’s tasks and how much progress your team is making across a given time frame.

How to use the sprint backlog template.

Step 1: Define Project Sprints & Objectives

Starting with
Project Sprints
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, you want to effectively plan new sprints for your team. By clicking the Add Sprint button you can create a new sprint. You add details for the sprint like its Name, Start Date, End Date, Person Responsible, Objectives, and Results.
In the Ideal Daily Story Points box, you will be prompted to add in a number of points that you want your team to ideally complete per day (Story points are essentially effort points, so certain tasks may require 20 points, and some may require 70).
Based on the number of days there are in a sprint there will be a Total Number of Story Points your team must complete within a Sprint, this will help you keep track of how much progress your team is making each day. Click the Create Backlog button to start tracking story points.

Step 2: Create Tasks & Scope Story Points

Once you have a created a Sprint, you can plan out the
Sprint Backlog
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. In the
Sprint Tasks
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table you can add tasks for a given Sprint. When adding a task you can fill out details like its Details, Priority, Person Responsible, Date it was Completed, and Estimated Story Points. Story Points are an estimate of how much progress/effort is put in for a given task (an average amount of 50 points).
In the
Sprint Story Points
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table you can see your team’s progress per date on Actual Story Points vs Planned Story Points.

Step 3: Visualize Burn Down Chart

In the
Burn Down Chart
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, you can visualize how much progress your team has made in a given sprint. The Planned Points Remaining is an ideal line of work/task left in a sprint. For your team be efficient in a sprint, the Actual Points Remaining should be as close to planned points remaining line.


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