Kanban Overview
Kanban means billboard in Japanese. It was invented by Taiichi Ono, the father of the Toyota lean manufacturing system. Kanban, originally a Just-in-Time (JIT) lean manufacturing methodology - it is a framework that removes system level bottlenecks form the workflow, be it software development, change management, process design and deployment, or manufacturing.
Its most effective visual tool, the Kanban Board provides a simple view of work progress. It can be as simple as
- TO DO
- DOING
- DONE
or more complex with additional verticles and policies under each category.
Kanban is characterized by a Work-In-Progress (WIP limit). A Kanban item or 'card' is only pulled if the WIP limit of the Kanban column allows it. The visual of the Kanban board (also available for NextGen projects in Jira), allows for transparency, especially key for software development and other knowledge projects.
Scrum Overview
Scrum, as opposed to Kanban has a set of defined cross functional roles: Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Master and the Scrum Team.
Scrum's iterative nature comes from a pre-defined work cycle schedule centered around specific delivery points tied to sprints.
Kanban vs Scrum?
Kanban is highly efficient for ongoing projects, includng bug fixes, whereas Scrum, a more incremental and iterative is better suited to projects with strict delivery dates and milestones. The Kanban board can be used as a hybrid solution and is suitable and highly recommended for both frameworks.
