Practical example of Scrum and Kanban use

in the same project

VS

April 11, 2015

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Victor Bogomolov

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Consider a story through your own experience

Doing right Scrum and right Kanban is the key!

Processes are not

everything!

Use engineering

practices to be

successful!

Disclaimer

Free-to-play MMO RPG for iOS

2+ years

2 teams: 10 and 5 members

Let the adventure begin!

Cross-functional team

Clear backlog

Clear target date for the release

New team members not familiar

with Agile/Lean principles

Solution

Project Kick-off and the first demo

No backlog ready

Considering feedback to implement

Creating new Game Design

Document

R&D

work preceding main

development

Solution

Incorporating feedback and research

Product development

Productivity

Constraints make difference

Stories split on sprints as mini-goals

Positive stress on commitment

“Relaxation” between sprints

Predictability

Stories split into sub-tasks and

estimated well

Estimation as a way to know what

we need to do

Solution

Main development

No backlog ready

Changing game concept

Updating the Game Design

Document

Technical development

Tasks with neither visual

output nor gameplay value

Solution

Direction change

Product development

Productivity

Proven statistically

Predictability Solution

Main development 2.0

Estimations don't change plans

Valuable features don't fit one

sprint

Solution

Budget cut

Bug fixing stage

Hard to estimate

Solution

Bugfix!!!

Event based releases

Minimal marketable feature

set (MMFS)

High responsiveness

Ability to change priorities on

the fly

Solution

The next-best-action strategy

Support project

No need to estimate

Unpredictable incoming flow of

issues

Team of specialists

Tools engineer

Operations engineer

Solution

Live operations

So, where we’ve arrived...

+

Scrum-ban

Scrum Kanban

Cross-functional team Required Optional

Team of specialists Prohibited Allowed

Product development

Support project

Bugfixing stage

No backlog ready

Estimations don’t change plans

No need to estimate

Ability to release anytime

Ability to change priorities on the fly (responsiveness)

Productivity and predictability

Use of Scrum Vs. Kanban

Similarities• Both are Lean and Agile.

• Both use pull scheduling.

• Both limit WIP.

• Both use transparency to drive process improvement.

• Both focus on delivering releasable software early and often.

• Both are based on self-organizing teams.

• Both require breaking the work into pieces.

• In both, the release plan is continuously optimized based on empirical data (velocity / lead time).

“Kanban & Scrum: Making the most of both” Henrik Kniberg and Mattias Skarin ©

DifferencesScrum Kanban

Timeboxed iterations prescribed. Timeboxed iterations optional. Can have separate cadences for planning, release, and process improvement. Can be event-driven instead of timeboxed.

Team commits to a specific amount of work for this iteration.

Commitment optional.

Uses Velocity as default metric for planning and process improvement.

Uses Lead time as default metric for planning and process improvement.

Cross-functional teams prescribed. Cross-functional teams optional. Specialist teams allowed.

Items must be broken down so they can be completed within 1 sprint

No particular item size is prescribed.

Burndown chart prescribed. No particular type of diagram is prescribed.

WIP limited indirectly (per sprint) WIP limited directly (per workflow state)

Estimations prescribed Estimations optional

Cannot add items to ongoing iteration Can add new items whenever capacity is available.

A sprint backlog is owned by one specific team. A kanban board may be shared by multiple teams or individuals.

Prescribes 3 roles (PO/SM/Team) Doesn’t prescribe any roles

A Scrum board is reset between each sprint. A kanban board is persistent.

Prescribes a prioritized product backlog Prioritization is optional.

Scrum Vs. Kanban Summary

1. What is Kanban? http://www.everydaykanban.com/what-is-kanban/

2. The Scrum Guide™ http://www.scrumguides.org/docs/scrumguide/v1/scrum-

guide-us.pdf

3. What is Scrumban? http://www.solutionsiq.com/what-is-scrumban/

4. Kanban vs. Scrum – How to Choose? http://www.agilevelocity.com/kanban-vs-

scrum-how-to-choose/

5. “Kanban & Scrum: Making the most of both” Henrik Kniberg and Mattias

Skarin http://www.infoq.com/minibooks/kanban-scrum-minibook

6. Kanban kick-start https://www.crisp.se/wp-

content/uploads/2012/07/Kanban-kick-start-v2.pdf

Useful links

Experiment!

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