Scrum or Kanban – or both?
The answer is, as so often, it depends! Both Scrum and Kanban are agile frameworks. The goal of both tools is to define a framework in which teams can work as effectively as possible. But they are different tools that are better or worse suited depending on the context, team structure or the type of task to be completed. Sometimes you use pots and sometimes pans for cooking. And there are even situations where you use both or a combination of both. But whether you use a pot or a pan, ultimately the tool alone will not be the deciding factor in whether your food tastes good afterwards.
In this article on Kanban vs Scrum, I don't want to tell you again what Scrum is or how exactly Kanban works. No, I want to briefly introduce you to the most important differences and similarities. Give you decision-making support for your request and point out possible combinations of the two tools.
The main thing is to be agile
Around 50 percent of German companies now use agile methods. According to a study by Bitkom Research from September 2019, the majority of companies use Scrum . The reasons for this are usually the same. They perceive agile methods as faster, more flexible and therefore more successful. Almost 40 percent of the companies surveyed stated that their employees were more motivated by the increased responsibility and self-organization. In addition, according to the study, agile approaches enable easier collaboration with IT freelancers, who still take on around a quarter of the total work in IT projects. But only around 17% of those surveyed use Kanban . Personally, I believe that the relationship between Scrum and Kanban can also be attributed to the marketing of the two variants. Scrum.org and the Scrum Alliance were and are pioneers in the marketing of Scrum and have made the Scrum product a hip brand. Ask people in your professional environment what people associate with “agile working methods”. I bet that Scrum is mentioned faster and more often than the word Kanban.
Kanban vs Scrum: Where the methods are similar
Both frameworks support agile working and are “lean” by definition. This means that they are based on the following three principles of lean management :
Continuous Improvement
process orientation and
customer and employee focus
Both Kanban and Scrum rely on a continuous and experience-based approach iran telegram data to improvement, with the aim of shortening lead times and minimizing waste. This lean principle is based on the traditional Japanese mentality of "Kaizen" (Kai means "change", Zen means "for the better"). This means that an open error culture is a central element in both methods. Errors are not seen as bad, but as a starting point for improvements.
Scrum and Kanban rely on the pull principle when processing the work to be done. Both methods basically assume that the team determines which and how many work packages it will complete in the near future. To do this, the team independently fetches the tasks from a pool of unfinished work. Compare the principle to a printer. It will not get any faster if you feed it more paper.
It is important at this point that the team does not cherry-pick the tasks that they like best. The goal should always be to prioritize the requirements or tasks that provide the highest possible value to the customer.
In addition, both variants rely on so-called WIP ("work in progress") limits. This means that only a certain number of work orders can be carried out per work section. However, while in Scrum the number of work packages is limited by the duration of a sprint, Kanban limits the number of work packages per state along a workflow. As illustrated in the following two graphics, the "in progress" state has a WIP limit of three (light brown circle).