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Which Agile Methodology should you use? : Scrum, Kanban or Lean
Which Agile Methodology should you use? : Scrum, Kanban or Lean

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This blog is the fourth in the series of blogs on Agile.

Today, many methodologies are used in application development. Buzzwords such as Agile, Scrum, Kanban and Lean are very common. This blog will talk about the differences between these.

Kanban, Scrum, and other Agile and Lean methodologies share similar goals, but the implementations of these are not exactly the same. Agile project management, however, spans them all.

Lean and Agile both constitutes of values and principles guiding software development and knowledge management work in general. They both overlap and have significantly influenced each other.

Lean Methodology

Lean manufacturing principles came first. It had first spread out from the Toyota Production System. The primary goal of the Lean methodology is to help teams build products with the bare minimum of what they need to succeed, while also eliminating waste. This could be in the form of redundant meetings, product features that won’t add value to end users, or unessential feedback loops. If the end result can be achieved without a particular activity, then that activity is a waste. This in turn improves the efficiency and sustainability of the value stream delivering value to the customer.

Lean is ideal for new product development teams or start-ups who are going into a relatively new niche or do not have a finished product yet don’t have a huge budget, and need to validate their idea. It helps such teams build, fail, and deliver software faster and cheaper.

Scrum

According to the Scrum Alliance: “Scrum is a simple yet incredibly powerful set of principles and practices that help teams deliver products in short cycles, enabling fast feedback, continual improvement, and rapid adaptation to change.”

In Scrum, the project is divided up into short time-boxed iterations called sprints which are usually 1 to 3 weeks. At the end every sprint, the team reviews the work done and plan the next sprint. Sprints can be worked upon by cross-functional teams containing all the skills needed to complete different work areas. Daily planning and tracking of progress is done using visual methods like the scrum board and sprint burndown charts.

A Scrum should have three roles:

  • Scrum Master: leader of the Scrum team. They are the coach of the team who help facilitate collaboration, organize and facilitate the sprint rituals
  • Product Owner: responsible for delivery of the product. The product owner defines the vision of what they want to build and conveys that vision to the team and the organization.
  • Team Member: cross-functional teams are typically comprised of up to 7 members.

Kanban

Kanban is a lighter weight process that uses many of the Lean and Agile values as well as is a subset of the Scrum values and principles. There are also some fundamental differences. Kanban focuses on visualization, flow, and limiting work in progress.

If you visit a team following Kanban, you will see a Kanban Board with multiple columns, the first may be labelled Backlog leading up to the final column Done. There may be one On-going column in the middle, or multiple columns to break the stages of the workflow.

Kanban doesn’t prescribe the roles that Scrum does. The only role needed is the team member role, however, there also may be a project manager that manages the team and backlog.

Differences between Scrum, Kanban and Lean

 

Scrum

Kanban

Lean

Ideology

Solves complex problems while delivering value

When a sprint has started, nothing should be dropped or added

Uses a visual board to improve workflows and processes

Priorities can change at any given time

Maximizes product value to customers by reducing waste

Priorities only change if it is on par with customer feedback

Delivery

After the end of each sprint

Continuous

 

Continuous

Process

Time-boxed rituals such as sprints, daily scrum, sprint planning, sprint retrospective and sprint review

No time-boxed rituals except for the daily stand-up

Demos can happen at any time

No standard or compulsory rituals

Roles

Scrum master

Product owner

Development teams

No formal or predefined roles     

No formal or predefined roles               

Metrics

Team velocity: Amount of work completed in a sprint

Cycle time: Amount of time it takes for a card to move from the first column to the last column

Lead time: Time between receiving feedback and implementing it

Practices

Sprint planning, sprint, daily scrum, retrospectives

Visualize the flow of work, limit work in progress, implement feedback loops, maintain existing roles and responsibilities

Build quality in, amplify and share knowledge, deliver quickly

 

 

Source: statushero.com/blog/comparing-scrum-kanban-lean/

While there are similarities between the Scrum, Kanban, and Lean frameworks of the agile software development methodology, there is no one method better than the other. Each has its pros and cons, and sometimes they even complement one another. Most modern teams often use a combination of two, or even all three frameworks together.

Upcoming: Burndown & Burnup Charts (Agile series part 5)

Read the other blogs in the series of Agile: 

An Alliance with Agile 

6 Best Practices your Agile Team should Adopt

Agile: Use Cases v/s User Stories

Sources:


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