About the Agile methodologies Scrum and Kanban. We will share very brief information about these Agile approaches but the info is really helpful for Scrum Masters, Product Owners and any other Agile management roles of a team.
Scrum and Kanban are the two types of Lean and Agile methodologies most commonly used for software development. They aim at delivering the final product to the customer in small “portions” or increments and actively seeking customer feedback as part of the product development process. Both methodologies use so-called pull systems but in different ways.
Both Scrum and Kanban systems use cards, tasks that are equal to a single task or work item and boards (Scrum board, Kanban board) containing columns that categorize work stages (e.g., To Do, In Progress and Done) Each card goes through all stages of work, the so-called Workflow, starting with To-Do and reaching Done.
Some differences between methodologies are that the Scrum teams work in a series of Sprints, which are short periods (most often 2 weeks) in which the team performs a predefined set of tasks. Kanban, in turn, is a continuous process and a limited number of work items in each column of the Kanban board. The two methodologies also differ in their routine meetings and rituals. In many Scrum Master training courses, these rules are strictly described.
Pros and cons of Scrum and Kanban
Some of the downsides may be the number of meetings between team members, the lack of desire to take leadership in end-product decisions by individual members, and the need for a full-time Scrum Master or Agile coach.
However, we will achieve better work visualization, clear work limitation in progress and increased productivity, as well as greater value for customers and end-users.
Integration
For the integration of methodologies, the following tasks are required:
Integration of relevant workflow tracking software (eg Jira or Trello).
Divide large teams into smaller teams containing between 5 and 9 members.
Appoint a Scrum master or Agile coach to each team.