Kanban and Scrum - making the most of both

Posted by Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin on Dec 21, 2009

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Scrum

Scrum and Kanban are two flavours of Agile software development - two deceptively simple but surprisingly powerful approaches to software development. So how do they relate to each other?

The purpose of this book is to clear up the fog, so you can figure out how Kanban and Scrum might be useful in your environment.

Part I illustrates the similarities and differences between Kanban and Scrum, comparing for understanding, not for judgement. There is no such thing as a good or bad tool – just good or bad decisions about when and how to use which tool.

Part II is a case study illustrating how a Scrum-based development organization implemented Kanban in their operations and support teams.

Consistent with the style of “Scrum and XP from the Trenches”, this book strikes a conversational tone and is bursting with practical examples and pictures.

This book includes:

• Kanban and Scrum in a nutshell
• Comparison of Kanban and Scrum and other Agile methods
• Practical examples and pitfalls
• Cartoons and diagrams illustrating day-to-day work
• Detailed case study of a Kanban implementation within a Scrum organization

120 pages, 6" x 9", ISBN: 978-0-557-13832-6

Free download

Courtesy of Henrik Kniberg, Mattias Skarin and InfoQ.com, we're happy to offer a free version for download, to get this knowledge in as many peoples hands as possible. Login to download this book FREE (PDF) Download this book FREE (PDF)

Buy the print version for $22.95

If you enjoyed reading the free download version, please support the author and InfoQ's book series by buying the print version for only $22.95.

Translations

Here you can find the translated versions of the book:

• French version, thanks to Claude Aubry, Frédéric Faure, Antoine Vernois & Fabrice Aimetti
• Spanish version, thanks to Ángel Medinilla, Rodrigo Corral, Xavier Quesada-Allue, Jorge Uriarte, Agustín Yagüe, Teo Sánchez, Juan Palacio,Gregorio Mena, Ángel Agueda, Laura Morillo-Velarde, Jorge Jiménez, Javier Sánchez, Juan Quijano
• Japanese version, thanks to Hiroki Kondo and Midori Daida
• Italian version, thanks to Fabio Armani

Table of contents

Foreword by Mary Poppendieck
Foreword by David Anderson
Introduction

PART I – COMPARISON

1. So what is Scrum and Kanban anyway?
2. So how do Scrum and Kanban relate to each other?
3. Scrum prescribes roles
4. Scrum prescribes timeboxed iterations
5. Kanban limits WIP per workflow state
6. Both are empirical
7. Scrum resists change within an iteration
8. Scrum board is reset between each iteration
9. Scrum prescribes cross-functional teams
10. Scrum backlog items must fit in a sprint
11. Scrum prescribes estimation and velocity
12. Both allow working on multiple products simultaneously
13. Both are Lean and Agile
14. Minor differences
15. Scrum board vs Kanban board - a less trivial example
16. Summary of Scrum vs Kanban

PART II – CASE STUDY
17. The nature of technical operations
18. Why on earth change?
19. Where do we start?
20. Getting going
21. Starting up the teams
22. Addressing stakeholders
23. Constructing the first board
24. Setting the first work in progress limit
25. Honoring the WIP limit
26. Which tasks get on the board?
27. How to estimate?
28. So how did we work
29. Finding a planning concept that worked
30. What to measure?
31. How things started to change
32. General lessons learned

Final Take-aways points
About the Authors

About the Authors

Henrik Kniberg & Mattias Skarin are consultants at Crisp in Stockholm (www.crisp.se). They share a passion for helping companies succeed with Lean and Agile software development in practice, and balance their time between coaching, teaching, and writing. Henrik’s previous book “Scrum and XP from the Trenches” has over 150,000 readers and is used as the primary guide to Agile software development by hundreds of companies worldwide.

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