Zebra's in IT

My Friday thought: In a world of multicolour there is a tendency for black or white. All or Nothing. Scrum or Kanban. It is sometimes good to look at how you can do both. Whether it be a zebra or Scrum with Kanban sometimes looking at the benefits of both allows you to find a solution you hadn’t thought of before.

This isn't about Scrumban

A lot of people talk about Scrumban as if it is a real thing, whereas I believe it is a term used to describe not following either. Scrum has a tightly defined implementations, whereas (for me) Kanban is a little more flexible in its implementation, but its principles are not negotiable.

Scrum with Kanban - How does this differ?

Kanban is about taking where you are today and evolving it into something better, so it isn't so unusual to see how it can add benefit to Scrum. In more recent years organisations like Scrum.org have brought out guidance on how to embrace Kanban whilst aligning to Scrum as the main framework for a team. Why? Scrum (to me) provides great structure for a team (especially a new one) where value and delivery can be focused on. Kanban embraces lean principles and focuses more on delivering value in the right way for the team. Kanban can often (to me) be harder to ensure its principles are fully embraced so coupling with the structure of Scrum can really aid a team in its adoption.

Don't draw strips on a horse

Embracing both for me isn't about taking what works for you from each one, saying your running sprints or have a kanban board. It is about embracing the benefits of both.

Scrum with Kanban as discussed widely by Scrum.org can provide a strong structure to guide you in not loosing Scrum's purpose, but gaining insights from Kanban implementation.

Kanban embracing scrum for me is more about understanding the eco-system your team is within. If everyone around you is working to Scrum and a fixed sprint length, it is how you can use the natural cadences within Kanban to align to other teams. Less Kanban with Scrum, more Kanban within a Scrum context.

Either framework (or others that work well when done right - e.g XP) looking to combine benefits can bring significant improvements, however, it can also result in the worse of both worlds.

So make sure you're looking to embrace your zebra and not paint white stripes onto your lovely black horse.