1 / 5
On the chart, remaining work decreases toward zero as the sprint progresses. The work ___.
-
-
-
-
Burn down describes remaining work decreasing over time.
- burn down work / a burndown chart
- A flat burndown signals the team is stuck
"Melts up" and "drains out" aren't the collocation. Example:
"We're burning down nicely — on track to finish Friday."
2 / 5
Some stories weren't finished this sprint, so they move into the next one. They ___ to the next sprint.
-
-
-
-
Carry over means moving unfinished work into the next sprint.
- carry over a story / work
- Lots of carryover suggests over-commitment
"Roll off down" and "shift up out" aren't standard. Example:
"Two stories carried over because of the outage."
3 / 5
The sprint is too full, so the team removes some agreed scope to hit the deadline. They ___ the sprint.
-
-
-
-
Descope means removing scope from a sprint or release to fit time/capacity.
- descope a feature / a sprint / a release
- The opposite of scope creep
"Unscope off" and "trim over" aren't standard. Example:
"We descoped the analytics work to ship the core flow on time."
4 / 5
New information arrives mid-sprint, so the team reorders what's most important. They ___ the backlog.
-
-
-
-
Re-prioritise (US: reprioritize) means changing the order of importance of backlog items.
- re-prioritise the backlog / work
- Common when business needs shift
"Re-rank off" and "re-grade out" aren't the collocation. Example:
"After the customer call we re-prioritised the backlog."
5 / 5
A task is so uncertain the team can't estimate it, so they time-box research into it. They run a ___.
-
-
-
-
A
spike is a time-boxed investigation to reduce uncertainty before committing to real work.
- run / do a spike — a research task
- Note: in monitoring, spike means a sudden metric jump — different sense, same word
"Probe off" and "dig up" aren't standard. Example:
"Let's run a one-day spike on the new auth library."