Currently there are different project management methodologies and it can be difficult to choose the most suitable one. That is why, in this post we will analyze and compare the most used: Kanban y Scrum. At the same time, we will see another alternative that combines both: Scrumban.
But, What are kanban, Scrum y Scrumban? Briefly, agile project methodologies used by software development companies, marketing agencies, design agencies, small teams, startups and companies and manufacturers everywhere to manage the creation and delivery of their products and services.
What is Kanban?
Kanban (cartel O sign in Japanese) is a Lean programming manufacturing system that was developed by Taiichi Ohno for Toyota in order to improve production efficiency. Kanban, uses visual cues that calculate what, when and how much to produce.
Today, used by software development teams, marketing and sales to manage the creation and delivery of products and services. One of its great attractions is that its learning curve is minimal and allows teams to be flexible in production, without adding unnecessary complexity to the procedure.
How does Kanban work?
- Makes it possible to visualize the workflow: a board with cards and columns is needed to visualize a production procedure with this system. A) Yes, each column on the board is a step in the workflow and each card represents a task or work item.
- Limit work in progress: the maximum number of items per stage can be determined (column) so that the productivity of the team does not suffer. Limiting work in progress will quickly illuminate problem areas in the flow for identification and resolution.
- Manage workflow: managing the movement of work items through the production procedure manages the work but not the people. A) Yes, instead of micromanaging people to keep them busy, it is better to manage and understand work processes. The goal is to get that work through the system quickly by adjusting the workflow.
- Explain the procedural policies: rules can be written to move tasks from one stage to another. It is essential that the whole team is on the same page and understands these rules.
- Implement feedback intervals: regular knowledge sharing and feedback meetings are necessary to maximize performance.
- Collaboratively improve, experiment and adapt: this methodology is an evolutionary improvement procedure, since it helps the adoption of small changes and gradual improvement at a manageable rate and size.
Kanban: pros and cons
Kanban has advantages and disadvantages. Let's see the most important ones below.
Advantages of Kanban
Some of the benefits of Kanban are:
- The whole team is on the same page: with this concept all members can see and update the status of each project or task, since these are visible.
- Production flexibility: this methodology is based on events rather than time segments, so it guarantees the solution to a sudden drop in demand for a product or service, eliminating tasks.
- Reveal bottlenecks in your workflow: since the entire workflow is visible on the dashboard, it is feasible to see where the procedure slows down
- Easy to adopt: it is very easy to understand and does not need role changes.
Disadvantages of Kanban
Kanban has some drawbacks:
- Less effective when sharing resources: it is feasible that if different team members need a third party, this cannot prioritize which tasks are most urgent if they are at the same stage.
- Inflexible when mixing products and changes in delivery flow: This methodology assumes a stable production plan that can be applied for the delivery of all products and services.. A) Yes, this system is not suitable for industries where different products are mixed.
- If the board is out of date development may be blocked: since it is based on events, if a task does not move to the appropriate column, tasks that depend on it are not reported and, Consequently, Are blocked.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is a methodology for project management where complex processes can be tackled and finished on time. This framework gets its name from a rugby training in which players get together a lot to try and get the ball..
Scrum has several key concepts: user stories, homework, points and sprints. The first two are calculated with points and, according to said estimate, They are divided into Sprints with a deadline and a goal.
A) Yes, the Sprint management is established by a Product Owner who represents the company or client and a Scrum Master who manages the work procedure, the Scrum Team and all Stakeholders.
This framework has four main ceremonies called meetings:
- Sprint planning meeting
- Daily stand up meeting
- Sprint review meeting
- Retrospective Sprint Meeting
The core of Scrum is the Backlog (things to do), which looks a lot like a long to-do list where all the tasks appear, characteristics and user stories essential to deliver a product or service.
How does Scrum work?
- Backlog refinement (things to do): the first meeting is preceded by the refinement of the Backlog (backlog of orders or tasks), in which the Product Owner and the Scrum team work together on the details and estimates of the Backlog items. The purpose of this procedure is to ensure that both user stories and tasks are “ready to deploy” and that in this way the team can perform them immediately when placed in a Sprint.
- Sprint planning meeting: The objective of the Sprint planning meeting is to prioritize the Backlog tasks to be added to the Sprint Backlog, how they will be accomplished and achieve a shared commitment to that goal from the team. The length of the Sprints can be adjusted to better adapt to the particularities of the company. At the same time, Each item in the Backlog must be deliverable and must be divided into tasks.
- Daily stand up meeting: is a regular daily meeting that is held regularly at the beginning of each day. The purpose of the meeting is to synchronize the Scrum Team, the Scrum Master and Product Owner to free up the agenda and focus on ongoing tasks. The following questions must be answered: What I did yesterday?, What will i do today?, What are the obstacles and challenges for my tasks today?
- Sprint review meeting: This meeting is established at the end of each Sprint to review what, how and what has not been delivered. This meeting begins with a demonstration of the product's functionality to get feedback and approval from the Product Owner., and determine if business requirements are met. The approved tasks are delivered and the others are moved back to the Backlog to plan them in future Sprints.
- Retrospective Sprint Meeting: In the last meeting the Scrum Team reflects on the previous Sprint and discovers how to improve the procedure by asking: what went well, what not and what can be improved. A) Yes, the team focuses on its overall performance and identifies ways for constant improvement.
Scrum: pros and cons
Scrum has advantages and disadvantages. Let's see the most important ones below.
Scrum advantages
Some of the benefits of Scrum are:
- Set clear goals and deadlines: time is key in this methodology, since each Sprint has a very defined objective and duration. This commits the Scrum Team to a single objective to be delivered within a specified time frame..
- Helps handle large projects: the many functions and tasks of large projects can be added in the Backlog to divide them into small Sprints.
- Works well for quick development projects: shorter Sprints allow the Product Owner to add, prioritize or update project specifications after each Sprint, something ideal if there are continuous changes.
- You can see the individual effort of the team: Both the Product Owner and Scrum Master can track each member's contribution during Daily Walk Meetings and Sprint Review meetings..
- Improve communication: all team members participate in meetings and are motivated to give their opinion and contribute to decisions.
Disadvantages of Scrum
Scrum has some drawbacks:
- Unable to add unexpected items: since the tasks planned in each Sprint are sacred, adding new items is prohibited. However, (almost) errors always arise, emergencies or changes that require unplanned extra work.
- Can't react to sudden changes: since sprints cannot be modified once started, Product Owner is required to wait for the Sprint to end to make changes.
- It is difficult to adopt: Updating team roles and responsibilities and obeying all four meetings can frustrate the team.
- Need a lot of time: multiple meetings result in considerable time wasted.
What is Scrumban?
This agile management methodology, which is a hybrid between Scrum and Kanban, was devised to help existing Scrum teams transition to Kanban and explore Lean methodologies in order to maximize resources and create customer value.
A) Yes, combines Scrum framework with flow-based methods and Kanban visualization. In other words, makes it possible to have the agility of Scrum and the simplicity of Kanban without updating roles, at the same time to be adopt.
How does Scrumban work?
Teamwork is organized in iterations and monitored with a visual dashboard. On-Demand Planning meetings are held when you need to establish which User Stories and Tasks will be completed in the next iteration.
Work in progress limit is used (WIP or Work in Progress for its acronym in English) to keep iterations short. When the WIP is below a certain level, a work-on-demand planning trigger is set so the team knows when to plan next.
- Iteration: work iterations are kept short to ensure the team can adapt to a rapidly changing environment. The length of the iterations is measured in weeks and their ideal duration varies according to the working procedure and the industry.
- On-demand job planning: planning in this methodology is demand-driven and occurs only when the planning trigger is activated. The scheduling trigger is tied to the number of tasks in the section “Pending tasks” from the board. When going below a certain number, planning event is done. Tasks scheduled for the next iteration are added to the section “Pending tasks” from the board.
- Priorization: it is advisable to prioritize tasks throughout the planning event. This can be done by adding numbers to the tasks or sorting tasks by priority in the column, putting the most important ones at the top. When planning by time segments it is feasible to plan in the long term. And it is a system of three time segments through which they have to pass the work items before reaching the board.. A) Yes, the three groups are different stages of the plan, which are regularly called a group of 1 year, group of 6 months and group of 3 months. The period of 1 year is for long-term goals or ideas. When moving forward with an idea, moves to the period of 6 months, and the main requirements are defined. When it starts to be put into practice, the plan is moved to the category of 3 months and divided into tasks that can be completed. In this last segment of 3 months the team sets tasks during their on-demand planning and privileges execution in the next iteration.
- Board: the basic board is made up of three columns: Pending tasks, In Procedure and Ready. After the Planning Meeting, Tasks are added to the To Do column and when someone on the team is ready to work on a task, moves it to the In Procedure column and then to the Done column upon completion. The To Do column can be expanded into extra columns depending on the workflow. The most common examples are Design, Development, Review and Testing. in addition, limits can be set on the board:
- Work in progress limit (WIP): this figure is the maximum number of tasks in progress and is regularly equal to the number of people on the team.
- To-do limits: you can limit the number of tasks in the "To Do's" section to have more productive planning meetings.
- Team: no specific number of team members or team roles is needed. At the same time, Tasks are not assigned and team members choose which tasks to complete from the dashboard.
- Choice principle: Tasks are not assigned to team members by a Team Leader or Project Manager. Each member selects which task from the "Pending Tasks" section to complete..
- Feature freeze: this is used as the project deadline approaches, so only the features that the team has programmed for development can be worked on and no extra features can be added.
- Triage: regularly happens right after feature freeze with a close project deadline. The Project Manager decides which features in development will be completed and which will not.
Scrumban: pros and cons
Scrumban has advantages and disadvantages. Let's see the most important ones below.
Scrumban Advantages
Some of the benefits of Scrumban are:
- Time saving: no need to constantly estimate or plan sprints. A) Yes, only planned if there is demand, In other words, if the number of tasks in progress (WIP) falls below a predefined threshold. Undoubtedly, this saves a lot of time in planning meetings.
- Scrumban helps manage large projects: a large project equates to numerous functions and tasks to be delivered over time. Thus, These can be distributed in the segments of 1 year, 6 months and 3 months, as well as prioritize in short iterations of 1-2 weeks.
- Scrumban Reveals Workflow Bottlenecks: the workflow is visible on the dashboard, same as in kanban. A) Yes, it is feasible to see where there are more tasks and which stage slows down the procedure.
- They're all on the same page: as in kanban, The whole team can see and update the status of the project or task, providing transparency to the procedure.
- Easy to adopt and easy procedure: no need to change roles or a “Scrum Master” O “Product Owner”. It is easy to get a methodology that is visually represented and has a planning meeting and simple rules.
- Scrumban brings equality and less stress on the team: the team chooses tasks using the principle of choice. A) Yes, the Project Manager does not assign the tasks and everyone selects which task from the “To-do” column they want to complete. With this total visibility of the project there are equal rights, less stress and less frustration.
Disadvantages of Scrumban
Scrumban has a few drawbacks:
- May become mishmash methodology: how is a new agile methodology that mixes Scrum and Kanban, no clearly defined best practices. Some teams may decide to invent on their own.
- Effort and individual contribution are hard to track: since each member selects their tasks and there are no daily mandatory meetings, the follow-up of the tasks done and planned is complicated.
- Less control for the Project Manager: since there is no equality in the team, no daily reports for everyone and everyone can assign tasks, the Project Manager's control is limited. He can choose what to choose from the package of 3 months, what tasks to schedule in on-demand planning and how to prioritize them. Despite this, it is the team who decides how to manage and implement them.
- An outdated board can cause problems: since each member of the team chooses their tasks for themselves, having an outdated dashboard can create problems. As an example, it is feasible that two members can start the same task or be blocked because one task depends on another or because the information on the dashboard is not up to date.
Scrum vs. Kanban vs. Scrumban
After having analyzed these three methodologies, some conclusions can be drawn:
- Scrum is probably the most complex, strict and difficult to adopt. At its core are sprints, that set objectives and deadlines that give total control to the Project Manager. Despite this, adding unexpected tasks can turn things upside down and requires an experienced team with many meetings. In any case, ideal for business or experienced teams working on a product or project with more than a year in duration.
- Kanban is the simplest and easiest methodology to adopt. The entire work procedure is displayed on its dashboard, so the team is in tune and in the event of bottlenecks there is flexibility in production. But nevertheless, is less effective with shared resources, inflexible with numerous products or large projects and tracking individual work is difficult. Be that as it may, is a great option for support and maintenance teams, continuous product manufacturing and product or service delivery teams with stable workflow.
- Scrumban combines the visualization and ease of adoption of Kanban with the systematization of Scrum without its complexity. A) Yes, it is flexible in production and ideal for large projects. However, reduces the control that the Project Manager has and it is difficult to track individual team effort. Whatever the case, is a great option for startups, quick projects, constant manufacturing of loyal products and equipment that sacrifice strict protocols for greater efficiency and freedom.
