How to Choose Scrum and Kanban?

Scrum and Kanban are two different tools that are often used together to create an incredibly efficient and flexible development process. If Scrum is a framework that enables teams to solve complex adaptive problems, Kanban is a workflow management method for managing and improving work within human systems.
Any project, big or small, must be well organized, otherwise all efficiency goes out the window. This is especially true for more complex projects where hundreds (if not thousands) of developers work on creating a software product.
In fact, tools like Scrum or Kanban have become absolutely essential for collaborative work on projects in large companies. This is particularly relevant when a company must remain Agile to compete with other businesses. And it doesn't matter what programming languages your developers use. Java, JavaScript, .NET, Ruby, Python, C, C++, C# (and everything in between), tools like Scrum and Kanban will work wonders for your team's productivity.

Criteria	Scrum	Kanban
Popularity	Very popular due to its iterative and incremental approach to software development.	Growing in popularity due to its visual nature and continuous delivery approach.
Application	Ideal for projects with rapidly changing or emerging requirements.	Best suited for projects with continuous workflow or frequent priority changes.
Key Advantages	- Embraces change - Promotes teamwork and transparency - Fast value delivery	- Visualizes workflow - Improves work flow - Reduces waste by limiting work in progress
Main Disadvantages	- Can be process-heavy - Requires significant mindset shift	- Not suitable for large and complex projects - Prioritization can be complex due to continuous delivery focus
Cost Efficiency	Cost efficiency can be achieved by delivering working product increments, providing early and frequent value.	Enhances cost efficiency by limiting work in progress, reducing waste, and fostering continuous delivery.
Infrastructure	Infrastructure is needed to support collaboration and iterative development.	Visual management tools, physical or digital, are required to map and manage workflow.
Training	Requires specialized training and role assignment (Product Owner, Scrum Master, Scrum Team).	Easy to understand and requires less training compared to Scrum.
Communication	Heavily relies on regular communication and daily Scrum meetings.	Promotes communication by visualizing work and making bottlenecks obvious.
Flexibility	High flexibility through iterative development and incorporating feedback.	Offers high flexibility in terms of process and priority changes.
Security	High; Scrum sprints allow for regular security checks and updates. Explanation: Regular sprints and reviews provide opportunities to inspect and improve security measures.	Medium; continuous workflow does not inherently provide security, so it must be consciously integrated. Explanation: Security checks should be integrated into the Kanban process as a separate stage or as part of existing stages.
Tools and Processes	Scrum-specific tools like Jira are used, along with processes such as sprints, sprint planning, and retrospectives.	The main tool is the Kanban board; no specific processes, but principles of visualizing work, limiting work in progress, and improving flow are used.
Commitments	Short-term commitments in the form of sprints.	Continuous commitments, driven by the continuous nature of the workflow.

But which of these tools should you use? Let's examine them and try to help you decide. First, we'll look at Kanban.

Kanban

What is Kanban?

Kanban originated in the early 1940s and was developed by Taiichi Ohno for Toyota Automotive. Its goal was optimal control and management of work and inventory at each stage of production. He created a system that can be applied to almost any type of project and consists of the following 4 foundational principles:

Start with what you do now
Agree to pursue incremental, evolutionary change
Respect current roles, responsibilities, and job titles
Encourage acts of leadership at all levels

These principles then apply to the following core practices:

Visualize workflow
Limit work in progress
Manage flow
Make process policies explicit
Implement feedback loops
Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally

The Kanban board is the result of these principles and practices and consists of columns such as:

In Progress
Peer Review
Testing
Done

development

How Kanban is Used

To use a Kanban board for your project, you need to break the whole into component tasks. Thus, Project X will consist of:

Task A
Task B
Task C
Task D

Each task will be assigned to a developer (or group of developers). Initially, each task will be in the "Done" column. As each team starts working on their task, it moves from "Done" to "In Progress". Once the task is complete, it moves to the "Peer Review" column. After review, the task can be moved to "Testing". Once testing is finished, if it's ready for further work, the task moves to "Done". If necessary, a task can be returned to "In Progress".

Once all tasks are in the Done column, the project is complete and ready for deployment.

Now let's look at Scrum.

Scrum

What is Scrum?

Unlike Kanban, Scrum is a framework that enables teams to create conditions where:

A Product Owner orders the work for a complex problem and places it in the product backlog.
The team turns a selected piece of work into an increment of value during a coding sprint.
The team and stakeholders inspect the results and adjust before the next coding sprint.

These three steps repeat until the project is completed.

How Scrum is Used

At its core, Scrum uses the scientific method of empiricism and replaces an algorithmic approach with a heuristic one. The entire Scrum process goes approximately as follows:

Product Backlog
Sprint Planning
Sprint Backlog
Daily Scrum
Increment
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective

If after the last step of the process the task is completed, it is ready to exit Scrum. On the other hand, if the review and retrospective reveal that additional work is needed, the task returns to the Sprint Planning phase and the process starts over.

Key Differences Between Kanban and Scrum

Now let's look at the key differences between these two systems.

Planning

In Scrum, planning is divided into 2-4 week sprints. Kanban, in contrast, does not operate on a schedule. Instead, Kanban uses continuous delivery with Kanban boards.

Roles

In Scrum, the team consists of three distinct roles:

Product Owner
Scrum Master
Development Team

In the Kanban system, there are no roles except perhaps a project manager.

Meetings

In Scrum, there are 4 "scrum ceremonies" that are followed:

Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum Standup
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective

Kanban does not prescribe such meetings.

Measuring Task Progress

In Scrum, teams use reports like burndown and burnup charts to track progress. In Kanban, a cumulative flow diagram is used to track task progress.

How to Choose Which Tool to Use?

The main difference between Scrum and Kanban is that Scrum is much more managed and structured. So if you have a team that requires constant process control, Scrum is the obvious choice. On the other hand, if you have teams that work well in more self-managed conditions, Kanban might be the better choice.

Other points to consider to help you decide:

If you want to improve planning and estimation, choose Scrum.
If you want to improve workflow, choose Kanban.
If you are using cross-functional teams, Scrum is best.
If you are using cross-functional interactions, Kanban is the right choice.
If coding sprints are best for your project, Scrum is the obvious choice.
If your team works with specialized tasks, Kanban is best.
If you need continuous delivery, Kanban is perfect for your needs.
If you are looking for a system that is easy and quick to implement, Kanban is for you.

Conclusion

Both of these systems are excellent for tracking projects and keeping developers on track. But the choice depends on your needs, team, and goals. Choose wisely, and your development lifecycle will thrive.