I see a lot of chatter about Scrum vs. Kanban on the internet in general and think the debate is misguided. You can do Kanban with Scrum (whether or not you decide to call it Scrumban), and Kanban itself is not a process or a framework that compares to Scrum. Kanban is a change process that you implement on top of whatever established process you already have in place. If that is Scrum, it is still Scrum. If it is any other kind of workflow or framework, it is still that. My favorite description of Kanban so far is that it is a lens, a lens that you see what you are currently doing through, whatever that is.

Just using a Kanban board to track your workflow is not Kanban.  Terminology is important and I like the term “Kanban Method,” which necessarily includes the values, principals and practices of Kanban not just using a board to track your work. Kanban comes from Lean and Lean is all about eliminating waste. So any time you are truly using the “Kanban Method” you are also relentlessly focused on reducing waste in your work. Kanban has at it’s core a need to create “Kaizen Culture” in the company that uses it. Kaizen Culture and Agile (as described by the manifesto) share some interesting components, values and practices as well. Which brings me to the true vs. debate. Are you Lean and Agile or just one or the other? I personally believe Lean and Agile are best together and are not in opposition at all. They are nicely complimentary and at some future point I may post about that in particular. It is enough for now to say that Kanban vs. Scrum should not be a debate. It really is two questions: Are we going to do Scrum? AND Are we going to do Kanban? And in my view both are best. Although, sometimes Scrum just won’t fit, Kanban always will because Kanban is a change process not a framework.