The Agile framework has 2 significant or Key methodologies in today’s software project environment. Both are equally efficient and produce results. However, if the right methodology is used after accessing the project you are handling, that is when you get the right results. Also, over a period of time, as the organization project management model changes, one can switch from one methodology to other.
But, how do we decide if we should use Kanban or Srum? For this, let us understand what these two are. There are some similarities and some differences as well between the two.
Scrum follows Agile methodology to carry out complex projects. It focuses on team collaboration and creation of a framework such that the team is completely committed to create innovative solutions for all challenges. There are small set of rules which need to be followed to the letter and punctuations.
Kanban is another similar yet slightly different framework that is used to implement Agile methodology. Kanban breaks down tasks into manageable chunks and uses a Kanban Board to visualize those tasks as they progress through the workflow.
Both Scrum and Kanban strive to increase quality along with productivity and bring efficiency in the organisation.
Now, coming to the key fundamental differences:
Role:
Scrum depends on atleast 3 prescribed roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Team members.
Kanban has no set of roles prescribed. Practically a project manager for supervising the work is sufficient.
Schedule:
Scrum plays heavy emphasis on schedule. Each sprint is time bound. Whatever does not fit in a sprint moves to next sprint.
Kanban has no time boxes or iterations. However the focus is on getting a set of work done or completed as planned based on the capacity and timelines.
Tools:
Scrum has columns / sections that are labelled to reflect the periods in workflow beginning with Sprint backlog, work required for the definition of done and the actual work completed. So, stories added to the sprint based on the past sprint velocity should appear in the completed section or column of the sprint.
Kanban board has columns to show workflow states. They are published with maximum number of work that can be completed in a time frame based on estimates with no time boxes. So, sprint length can vary and need not be constantly time boxed.
There’s really no way to answer the question on what fits in which type of environment. Both Scrum and Kanban are powerful, proven process tools that can vastly improve your project management. The best option is to become familiar with both of them and experiment with various aspects of both in your production environment. Creating a hybrid of both is perfectly acceptable if that works best for you.