Scrumban is an Agile management methodology describing hybrids of Scrum and Kanban and was originally designed as a way to transition from Scrum to Kanban. Today, Scrumban is a management framework that emerges when teams employ Scrum as their chosen way of working and use the Kanban Method as a lens through which to view, understand and continuously improve how they work.
It can also be used as a stepping stone for teams looking to transition from Scrum to Kanban. For many software development teams, an immediate shift to Kanban would be too drastic. Scrumban offers teams a healthy, familiar way of learning how to practice continuous improvement in Kanban without abandoning the familiar structure of Scrum.
Scrumban = Scrum + Kanban
Scrumban combines the structure of Scrum with the flow-based methods of Kanban. Here are the elements of Scrum that are incorporated into the Scrumban method:
- Iteration planning at regular intervals, synchronized with reviews and retrospectives
- Decide how much work they can pull into the sprint based on the complexity of the work and the length of the sprint
- Prioritization on demand — provides team with the best thing to work on next — no more or less
- Assure necessary level of analysis before starting development (Definition of Ready)
- Use “ready” queue (between Backlog and Doing) to organize
Kanban adds process improvement, visualization, and more value metrics to the Scrumban method. These are the elements of Kanban that are used by Scrumban teams:
- Pull system and continuous workflow: Pull items into Doing as the team has capacity
- WIP limits: Explicit limits on how many items are in progress at any time
- Individual roles not clearly specified
- Short lead times — emphasize just-in-time analysis and planning (rather than batch-processing for iteration planning estimations)
- Use process buffers and flow diagrams to expose process weaknesses and identify opportunities for improvement
- Focus more on cycle time than burndown (if cycle time is predictable, burndown is predictable)
- Use policies to make process step transitions clearer
Since the team now pulls work into a small, ready queue before pulling it into WIP, the team’s perspective of the iteration backlog’s utility is that it always contains something that is worth doing next. Therefore, we should use the least wasteful mechanism that will satisfy that simple condition.
When to Consider Using Scrumban
Scrumban is a great solution for teams who need the structure of Scrum with the flexibility of a flow-based method, or for teams who are looking to transition from Scrum to Kanban. Many teams use Scrumban as a transition point between a less mature and more mature Agile practice.
