Scrum vs Kanban; what is the difference?

11/11/2016

LEA KARAM

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AGILE WEB AND APP DEVELOPMENT

AGILE , AGILE METHODOLOGIES , AGILE SOFTWARE

DEVELOPMENT , INFOGRAPHIC , KANBAN , KANBAN VS
SCRUM , SCRUM , SCRUM VS KANBAN

In Agile software development , there are diff erent methodologies

of work that are used. Here at Apiumtech , depending of the project
we are working on, we usually use 2 frameworks. We either go for
Scrum methodology or for Kanban project management. Sometimes
we also like to mix it up and go from Scrumban. For that reason, I
decided to do an Infographic to illustrate Scrum vs Kanban.
In this post, you will fi nd more information about
scrum methodology, Kanban, some key terms used and the
diff erence between both; Scrum vs Kanban. If you are interested in
knowing more about scrum in general, weve got a great
article explaining scrum sprint , you should give it a look!

WHAT IS SCRUM?

Scrum is an agile framework that is used to work on complex

projects. This methodology implies working with a cross-functional
self organized team and there are three roles that are assigned.
The product owner has to create the product backlog which
serves as a list of things that need to be done, with each item on the
list having an importance and a priority ranking.

There are regular meetings that are organized to ensure successful

results (5). Each sprint (usually lasts 2 weeks) starts with a sprint
planning meeting and has its sprint backlog; the team will
choose items that will be worked on and how it will be done. During
the sprint, the team will have daily meetings to inform about the
progress of the project.
The scrum master has to be sure the team is on its way to reach its
goal. At the end of each sprint (usually of 2 weeks), a potential
product has to be delivered, on which iterations will be done on the
next sprint. To end well the sprint, the team goes through a sprint
review and retrospective, pushing them to continuously improve.
After that, the next sprint starts!

WHAT IS KANBAN?

Kanban is another framework used in agile that helps teams work

more effi ciently together. Here, the planning is quite fl exible and can
regularly change the work in progress without having an impact on
the rest of the team. The idea is to match the amount of work in
progress to the teams capacity on a Kanban board.
On that board, its very important and helpful to
always visualize what has to be done (what is the workfl ow) via
visual cards and to put a limit to the amount of work that is in
progress. In fact, a common error is that teams over commit and end
up facing a situation where they cant deliver what was promised or
planned. The board has columns that represent the diff erent status
of a task and every work item or task has to pass through diff erent
stages or status. For example, going from in progress, to testing, to
ready for release, and fi nally to the released column.

Once that a task or item or card is fi nished, we move the next

prioritized item from the backlog into the work in progress. A key to
success with Kanban is to analyze the workfl ow to ensure continuous
collaboration and improvement.

KANBAN vs SCRUM; What is the difference?

Both Kanban and Scrum focus on releasing software early and often.
Both require highly-collaborative and self-managed teams. There
are, however, diff erences between the approaches:
In general Kanban is much more fl exible than scrum and fi ts very
good with teams that dont need as much management and
deadlines. In fact, there is no time that is set for sprints, roles are
not assigned to the team and in general the focus is more on the
task that is being worked on. Of course, teams should ensure
effi ciency and for that, its important to follow the pillars of Kanban
and not assign more work than what can be handled.
In general, Scrum would be better than Kanban when it comes to
projects where you need to ship a product quickly and where you
have deadlines from the third party. Also, when you have a project
where people from other departments and industries are working
together (or people with a diff erent background), working with scrum
can be a big advantage to be sure everyone is on the same wave
because of the fact that there is so many regular meetings.

SCRUM vs KANBAN INFOGRAPHIC

This
infographic can serve as a good reference to have a summarized
idea and if you are hesitating about scrum vs kanban and which one
would be better for your team, it can be a good start. If you are
interested about Agile methodology in general, weve got many
articles you might enjoy reading.