posted 14th April 2023
Intro
In today's fast-paced business environment, it's critical to deliver customer value early and often. The Scrum Framework and the Kanban Method are two Agile approaches that can help teams achieve this goal. While both approaches have their unique strengths, combining them can yield even more significant benefits. In this blog post, we'll explore the benefits of using Scrum and Kanban together to deliver customer value.
Scrum is a popular Agile framework for managing complex projects. It is based on the principles of transparency, inspection, and adaptation. Scrum divides work into time-boxed iterations called sprints, where the team focuses on delivering a potentially shippable product increment. The Scrum process includes daily stand-up meetings, sprint planning, sprint review, and sprint retrospective.
Kanban, on the other hand, is a Lean approach to managing work that emphasizes visualizing workflow, limiting work in progress, and managing flow. Kanban boards visualize multiple work item types, as they move through different stages of completion. The Kanban process includes regular cadences that act as feedback loops to review the work, and to continuously improve with managed evolution.
Combining Scrum and Kanban can offer teams a powerful set of tools for delivering customer value. Here are some benefits of using Scrum and Kanban together:
Improved flexibility
Scrum is known for its ability to handle changing requirements and adapt to feedback quickly. Kanban, on the other hand, provides a flexible framework for managing multiple work item types that can be added or removed at any time. Together, Scrum and Kanban offer teams the flexibility to adapt to changing requirements while still delivering customer value early and often.
Increased visibility
The Kanban Method prescribes a visual representation of the workflow, which helps team members understand the work as well as identify and manage bottlenecks. Both Scrum and Kanban also provide further visibility through their cadences. Combining Scrum and Kanban gives teams even more visibility into the work, enabling them to make better decisions and improve the delivery process.
Better flow management
Kanban emphasizes managing flow by limiting work in progress and optimizing the workflow. Scrum focuses on delivering a potentially shippable product increment in each sprint. By combining these two approaches, teams can manage flow more effectively, ensuring that work items are completed efficiently and effectively.
Continuous improvement
Both Scrum and Kanban emphasize continuous improvement. Scrum includes sprint retrospectives, where the team reflects on the sprint and identifies areas for improvement. Kanban also includes regular meetings to review the Kanban board and identify areas for improvement. By combining Scrum and Kanban, teams can take advantage of both approaches to continuously improve their delivery process.
In Conclusion
By combining the Scrum Framework and the Kanban Method, this approach can offer teams a powerful set of tools for delivering customer value early and often. By using both approaches, teams can achieve improved flexibility, increased visibility, better flow management, and continuous improvement. Ultimately, this can lead to better outcomes for the business and a more satisfying experience for the customer.