Can Scrum and Kanban Coexist?

There is much debate these days over which is better, Scrum or Kanban, but a better question would be how do you use the strengths of both to your advantage? To determine the answer we need to know the common elements of both concepts as well as the differences.

I talk about Scrum in some detail in an earlier entry, but Scrum in a nutshell is a way of breaking down complex problems into simpler solutions. Scrum uses self-organizing teams that make a commitment to stakeholders to create a unit of work that is shippable. Scrum teams are cross-functional and deal in iterations of shippable product.

Kanban is a Just-in-time concept originally developed by Toyota as a way to control production. Kanban is "pull-based" meaning that production is based on current demand and is usually based on a strict set of rules. An example of these rules from Toyota are as follows...

1. Do not send defective products to the subsequent process
2. Subsequent process only takes what it needs
3. Produce only the exact quantity withdrawn
4. Level the production
5. Use Kanban as a means of fine-tuning
6. Stabalize and Rationalize the process

I personally believe that Scrum and Kanban cannot only coexist, but can compliment each other well. For example, when an IT product is requested, Scrum is a good candidate for managing that creation. Use sprints to create shippable product and get customer feedback. Once the product is stable, the backlog tends to shrink, which is where I think Kanban comes in. As new requests are made, they can be handled in a just-in-time way. Dedicating a sprint to a simple feature request defeats the purpose of being agile. My Scrum master instructor mentioned that you don't always have to create a great meal, sometimes you just need to heat up some macaroni and cheese. So, if you're making macaroni, just make macaroni.

To recap, I like both Scrum and Kanban and we tend to use both here successfully. Generally, on larger projects we use Scrum, but that tends to evolve into Kanban over time as the project turns into a mature, finished product. Kanban is used as part of a continuous improvement process with a focus on quality.