9 Differences between Scrum and Kanban

By default, everyone here knows what Scrum and Kanban are, so we won't repeat the two definitions. But a new question comes out: both of them are the framework of the Agile development and the lightweight methods as well, what are the differences between them? Which one should we choose as a start of the team-level Agile? Let's try to see their differences through the picture below:

Source: HardenX Business Agility

Different ways of planning

Scrum requires planning for the next Sprint at the beginning of each Sprint, but Kanban does not need so. It can be considered as an on-demand plan, that is, planning is performed when the current work item is completed and a new task is to be pulled in. Of course, Kanban is using the concept of Cadence as well whether in theory or practice now, but it's on-demand planning in essence.

Different Effort Estimation

Scrum requires an estimation (man-days, story points, etc.) of the user stories in the next Sprint before the start of each Sprint. A user story needs to be split if it is too big to be completed in one Sprint. But Kanban is not necessary for estimation, it just "pulls" new work items in after the current one is complete. Kanban focuses on flow. Of course, if you want to achieve predictability, you may still need to estimate, just like the planning above to estimate on demand.

Changes in the scope of work

For Scrum, the work content cannot be changed once a Sprint starts. One of the Scrum Master's responsibilities is to ensure that the team is undisturbed and focused on fulfilling the current iteration commitments. But Kanban is very flexible because it has no concept of time-box, so you can add and modify tasks in the backlog and adjust their priorities at any time. Such adjustments can be reflected in the next task pull very quickly.

Source: Freepik

Different roles

For Scrum, we have new roles: Scrum Master, Product Owner, Development Team, especially for Scrum Master, it's a role that has never existed in any organization before. This will lead to major changes in the organization when we introduce Scrum such as forming new teams, appointing new roles, and developing new processes. However, Kanban does not define any new roles, and there is no such role as a Kanban master. Instead, Kanban practice is carried out based on any existing organizations and roles, which is one of the reflects of the incremental change in the Kanban method.

Different meetings

In Scrum, we have Planning Meeting, Daily stand-up meeting, Sprint review meeting, Retrospective meeting and Backlog refinement meeting. There are corresponding instructions for the format, purpose, duration and even the length of each meeting. But in Kanban, there are usually meetings related to prioritization (for adjusting the priorities in the backlog and clarifying the following work, but it is not necessary), daily stand-up meetings (for focus on the value flow of Kanban and no daily three questions are designed), and retrospective meetings (it had no essential difference with Scrum retrospective meeting).

Different ownership

In Scrum, the product owner is the Product Owner, who maintains the product backlog, adjusts priorities, and decides to accept or reject the value increment submitted by the team at the end of the Sprint. There are no similar restrictions in Kanban, which defines who takes responsibilities like the Product Owner based on the current situation and organization requirements.

Source: Freepik

Different measure tools

In Scrum, we generally use burndown charts to observe the status quo, find deviations, and predict trends. In Kanban, the cumulative flow graph is used to calculate indicators such as cycle time and throughput.

Different constraints

Scrum uses a fixed time box as an iteration time constraint, and it also implicitly imposes a constraint on the user stories that can be undertaken in an iteration. Kanban uses WIP limits to limit the number of tasks a team can work on at the same time.

Different core value

For Scrum, its roots lie in Agile, which are the Agile Manifesto and the 12 Agile Principles. Scrum was created to adapt to uncertainty and rapid change. For Kanban, its roots lie in Lean, which is from the Toyota Production Method--to eliminate waste and focus on the flow of value. Of course, this is a bit narrow, and Lean-Agile is often talked about together now, but they were born to solve different problems. Up to now, the implementation is still different. For example, Scrum emphasizes the team, while Kanban emphasizes the value stream. This difference is caused by their different sources.

How to choose

Source: Freepik

With so many differences between the two frameworks, the final question is "Which method should we choose"? In fact, it's hard to say which one is good or bad, simple or complex. The specific method to be used needs to be judged based on the actual situation of the organization itself. In my personal review, Kanban is more beneficial to the projects with fast changes in requirements, such as feature development that cannot guarantee even a week of iterations, or project teams that belong to the support/maintenance category. On the contrary, for those feature development teams with a clear roadmap, Scrum has a more complete routine in order to submit value increments at a fixed rhythm. Besides, Kanban is more acceptable to enterprises that don't like to change too much from the status quo.

Still confusing? Why not combine Kanban and Scrum together? ZenTao is fully supporting the three project management models: Scrum, Waterfall, and Kanban. Users have more flexible choices with the more completed features of ZenTao.

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