Detailed Comparison of Scrum vs Kanban

Majority of companies today are using agile methodologies – Scrum or Kanban. Many professionals, on the other hand, are having difficulty differentiating between the two methodologies.

The Scrum methodology focuses on teamwork, responsibility, and incremental progress in order to motivate individuals to work toward a common objective. Kanban, on the other hand, is a visual workflow management solution that is used throughout the process. Despite the fact that we can work on both technologies at the same time, businesses usually prefer choosing one of them.

In this article, we will dive deep into knowing the differences between Scrum and Kanban.

Scrum V/s Kanban: Basic Features and Differences

Since Scrum and Kanban are agile methodologies and they both share a few common characteristics. Both platforms limit Work in Progress (WIP) to the bare minimum for promoting agility and assisting in the segmentation of jobs into smaller, more manageable chunks.

Differences between Scrum and Kanban?

Scheduling: Managers build sprints using the Scrum methodology by establishing defined deadlines for each project area. On the other hand, Kanban promotes consistency by establishing deadlines with the team leader.

Roles and Responsibilities: Every team member is given a distinct task in Scrum. However, in Kanban,  team members' responsibilities are not precisely defined resulting in greater collaboration.

Improvisations: In the middle of a sprint, Scrum does not provide room for improvisations or alterations, whereas Kanban allows changes and supports ongoing adjustments.

Defining KPIs: Understanding the sprint velocity helps in determining Scrum productivity. Kanban, on the other hand, considers taking time to complete a significant amount of a project.

Deliverability: Scrum is best suited for projects with defined objectives, but Kanban is better suited for agile teams that require frequent adjustments as needed.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Scrum

We've already covered the key features of Scrum and Kanban. Let's look at the benefits and disadvantages of Scrum.

Pros:

Shorter sprints: Scrum breaks the task into smaller chunks, allowing it to be completed faster and in a more efficient manner.

Improved quality: As minor tasks are easier to execute precisely, each sprint produces higher-quality work.

Enhanced accountability: The overseeing of each specific goal by individual team members improves accountability. 

Unparalleled transparency: Every team member is informed of how the project is progressing as well as their own tasks and responsibilities.

Goal-oriented work: This is most effective when combined with a goal-oriented professional perspective.

Cons:

Focus-oriented: It's often viewed as a benefit, but without a team of highly skilled and experienced specialists, it's more likely to become a disadvantage.

Work-pace issues: Weaker members in your team could slow down other agile members. 

Handling Inaccuracies: Scrum-powered projects must be precisely defined; else, mistakes are likely to occur.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Kanban

Kanban also comes with its sets of advantages and disadvantages which are as follows:

Pros:

Ease of use: It is not necessary to have years of experience in agile project management to understand Kanban as it's a visually appealing and user-friendly platform.

Flexibility: Kanban is a highly flexible system that is required for larger projects requiring real-time modifications.

Collaboration: In contrast to Scrum, Kanban encourages teamwork and ensures that the entire team works together to achieve the desired result.

Increased Productivity: In longer project cycles, this solution focuses on continuous delivery and higher efficiency.

Cons:

Lack of focus: Lack of focus can result in confusion while implementing Kanban.

Complexity: Kanban boards can get complicated, causing problems with clarity and disagreement among team members.

Lack of timing: Kanban is less popular among project managers since it lacks timing parameters.

Kanban V/s Scrum: Which framework is the best?

Choosing Kanban or Scrum framework is a conscious choice that depends upon project requirements. In the end, it's important to make sure that it’s a well-informed decision. If you’re having trouble determining the right choice, we would suggest you try both frameworks and figure out which worked well for you. 

Below is a list to consider before making the final decision: