Setting up Scrum and agile workflows in monday.com for software teams
We're a 6-person software team trying to implement Scrum. I know monday.com isn't a dedicated agile tool, but how can we set it up to support 2-week sprints, backlog management, and retrospectives?
3 Answers
Here's our Scrum setup: Create three boards: 1) Product Backlog - all features and bugs prioritized, 2) Sprint Board - current sprint items, 3) Release Board - completed sprints ready for release. In the Sprint Board, use Groups for: To Do, In Progress, Code Review, Done. Add columns for: Story Points (numbers), Sprint (linked to Sprint item), Status, Assignee. Use the 'Sprint Planning' automation: When an item is added to the Sprint group, automatically change status to 'To Do' and set the sprint dates. For retrospectives, create a separate 'Retrospective' board with columns for 'What went well', 'What to improve', 'Action items'. Automations move completed action items to the next sprint's backlog. We run 2-week sprints this way with about 90% of what dedicated agile tools offer.
Don't overlook the 'My Work' view for personal sprint tasks. Combined with the Workload view for team capacity, this gives developers a clear picture of their sprint commitments. Use the 'Dependency' column to track blocked items - when Task A blocks Task B, the automation can notify both assignees. For burndown charts, use the Chart view with story points over time, though it's not as sophisticated as Jira's.
We use the monday.com integrations with GitHub and GitLab. Commits and pull requests automatically update related items. This gives us real-time visibility into development progress without developers leaving their workflow. Set up webhooks from your Git provider to monday.com for this. The key is keeping the board simple - don't over-customize or the overhead defeats the purpose of using a lighter tool.