Earned Value in agile projects — yes, it works

"We are agile, so EVM does not apply to us." It is a common objection — and an understandable one. Classic EVM grew up with fixed scope and detailed work breakdown structures. But the core idea, comparing value delivered with value planned and cost incurred, fits agile surprisingly well.

Plan value per sprint, not per task

Instead of spreading the budget over hundreds of tasks, spread it over sprints. If a release has ten sprints and a budget of 2,000,000 kr, the planned value curve is simply the cumulative sprint budget. Front-load or back-load it if your team ramps up or down.

Earn value on done — only done

Earned value in an agile project should follow your definition of done. A common approach is story points: if the release backlog is 400 points and 120 are done, you have earned 30% of the budget. Partially finished stories earn nothing. That keeps the numbers honest.

Let the scope move — and track it

Agile scope changes. In EVM terms, that means the budget changes through controlled change requests. Keep the base budget stable and record changes separately, so the consolidated budget is always traceable: CB = BB + CC. Your steering committee will see both where you started and why you moved.

Pull actual cost from time registration

Actual cost is the easy part if hours are registered per project. Tools like Azure DevOps already hold completed work; linking that to hourly rates gives you AC per sprint.

What you gain

With planned value per sprint, earned value on done, and actual cost from time logs, you get CPI, SPI and a forecast every sprint — without asking teams to change how they work. That is exactly the model Project Tracker is built around.