{"id":26715,"date":"2020-09-15T12:38:17","date_gmt":"2020-09-15T11:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/?p=26715"},"modified":"2022-05-26T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T15:12:25","slug":"scrum-is-dead-all-hail-kanban-the-new-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/2020\/09\/15\/scrum-is-dead-all-hail-kanban-the-new-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I\u2019ve been using Scrum since the beginning of my career. This was the framework that I was taught in college as the best to manage software development. When I started working, I loved it all: daily meetings, planning, retrospectives, sprints, etc. After all, I was applying what I learned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a few years, I started noticing one thing: In the last days of a sprint, everyone was rushing to deliver everything they had done in the previous two weeks to avoid carry-overs, frequently taking unnecessary risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/servicos-e-solucoes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"875\" height=\"583\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Scrum-Is-Dead-All-Hail-Kanban-the-New-King_1.jpg\" alt=\"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King\" class=\"wp-image-26721\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Why? Couldn\u2019t some tasks wait for next week? Was the delivery of every task before the weekend that critical? No, it wasn\u2019t. We did it because \u201cCarry-overs are bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1406\">Scrum Is Not Agile Enough<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I came to the conclusion that Scrum placed too much emphasis on process \u2014 or at least people paid to much attention to it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Delivering a story on the last day of a sprint was OK. But the next Monday, it was a carry-over.<\/li><li>If you needed to do unexpected work (bugs, problems in production, etc.), it would affect your time and consequently make you fail the commitment you made in the planning meeting.<\/li><li>The most used metric to evaluate success is commitment vs. done, which compares the stories that you committed at the beginning of the sprint and what stories you accomplished (I won\u2019t even bother to mention what problems this can bring).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Scrum was not guiding us anymore. It was limiting us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With all the points mentioned above, the team started to feel frustrated, and it affected the quality of the work produced.&nbsp;People cared more about delivering in time than delivering with the desired level of quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At this point, we started to research other possible agile frameworks that would be a better fit for our work method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We found Kanban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/servicos-e-solucoes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"875\" height=\"492\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Scrum-Is-Dead-All-Hail-Kanban-the-New-King_2.jpg\" alt=\"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King\" class=\"wp-image-26722\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2d52\">What Is Kanban?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Kanban is a work management framework that was first introduced by the Toyota Production System back in the \u201940s. At this time, Toyota used a visual board with three columns: Requested, In Progress, Done. This framework allowed Toyota to allocate resources better when there was a bottleneck in some areas in the production line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kanban was then adapted to the technology industry when people saw the benefits it could bring to the speed of delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"ac34\">Scrum vs. Kanban<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years, Scrum and Kanban have been fighting for the position of the leading agile framework. Despite&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.xpand-it.com\/2018\/10\/11\/top-5-agile-methodologies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Scrum being the current #1 agile framework<\/a>, Kanban is becoming more adopted over the years. But how do these two frameworks compare?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having Scrum as a base:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Kanban has no timeboxed iterations (sprints).<\/li><li>Kanban does not require story estimation.<\/li><li>Kanbandoes not have the concept of commitment. Items enter the flow as they need to be done.<\/li><li>Kanbanprovides several metrics that measure the time that a story takes on the board.<\/li><li>Kanban does not require a Scrum Master (obviously).<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/servicos-e-solucoes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"875\" height=\"840\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Scrum-Is-Dead-All-Hail-Kanban-the-New-King_3.jpg\" alt=\"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King\" class=\"wp-image-26717\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Kanban offers more&nbsp;flexibility&nbsp;to the team. Stories flow more freely than they would in Scrum. But with great freedom comes great responsibility. Despite not having a commitment every two weeks, other metrics must be used to evaluate the team\u2019s performance, such as cycle time and throughput.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"c8a1\">It\u2019s All About Metrics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You can\u2019t measure your success (or lack thereof) without having metrics that allow you to assess your progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"012a\">The Scrum metrics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Scrum uses these metrics and graphs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Velocity: the number of story points delivered each sprint<\/li><li>Commitment vs. Done: the percentage of stories that were committed and delivered<\/li><li>Burndown chart: a graph that shows the evolution of the stories of a given sprint<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These metrics hardly help you to improve your workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Velocitydoesn\u2019t measure the speed of delivery. It counts the number of story points that were delivered. If a story ends up taking longer than estimated, this metric would no longer mean anything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Commitment vs. Done should never be a metric. It compares what was delivered vs. what was committed. Needless to say, this can bring people to close and reopen tasks for them to be \u201cDone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The burndown chart is something that I personally never paid too much attention to \u2014 mainly because it often looked like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/servicos-e-solucoes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"875\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Scrum-Is-Dead-All-Hail-Kanban-the-New-King_4.jpg\" alt=\"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King\" class=\"wp-image-26718\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Why does this happen? You begin with an empty board and start, let\u2019s say, three stories in parallel. These stories are likely moving forward all at the same time, which means that you\u2019ll see these massive drops in the burndown chart. Furthermore, if you have one tester who is supposed to test all the stories, you will have a bottleneck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"a4fb\">The Kanban metrics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>From my perspective, metrics are the strongest points of Kanban. It has a pool of different metrics that allow you to better understand what is going on with your team, such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Throughput: the number of stories that are delivered within a given timespan<\/li><li>Cycle time: The number of days it takes to deliver a story after it is started. This uses confidence intervals. The most common to look at is 85% confidence.<\/li><li>Cumulative flow diagram: Allows you to have a visual look at how the stories flow in your board. It should look like a&nbsp;<em>combed whale.<\/em><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/servicos-e-solucoes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"875\" height=\"438\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Scrum-Is-Dead-All-Hail-Kanban-the-New-King_5.jpg\" alt=\"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King\" class=\"wp-image-26719\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> There is a plug-in for Jira that provides all these&nbsp;metrics&nbsp;out of the box. It is called&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/marketplace.atlassian.com\/apps\/1216661\/actionableagile-for-jira-agile-metrics?hosting=cloud&amp;tab=overview\" target=\"_blank\">ActionableAgile for Jira \u2014 Agile Metrics<\/a>. You can explore your team\u2019s metrics using the same software you use to manage your work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3532\">We Adapted It to Our Team<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Pure Kanban does not require you to do several activities that are necessary for Scrum. However, it gives you the flexibility to do them if you foresee value in adding them to your workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Retrospective meetings are one of the most important meetings for a team. It\u2019s where you can look to what you\u2019ve accomplished, what didn\u2019t go so well, and how you can improve. It\u2019s a safe place where you can expose your problems and congratulate those who have done an excellent job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite not being something required in Kanban (in Scrum, it is done at the end of each sprint), we saw value in it and kept it. In fact, we started to do them weekly instead of every two weeks, allowing us to have a quicker response when some problem arises. We also use these meetings to have a look over the team\u2019s metrics and check for problems and bottlenecks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another optional activity that we chose to keep was the story estimation during the refinements. In Scrum, estimates are used to have a better understanding of what fits in a sprint. Since Kanban has no sprints, you would guess that this had no use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wrong!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/servicos-e-solucoes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Scrum-Is-Dead-All-Hail-Kanban-the-New-King_6-683x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Scrum Is Dead. All Hail Kanban, the New King\" class=\"wp-image-26720\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Estimating a story helps to make sure that everyone has the same idea of what is to be done in a story. If someone votes 8 and other people vote 3, it\u2019s clear that the story needs further discussion. Someone could be accounting for a problem that others are not aware of or the other way around, where someone includes extra work that is not to be considered in that story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To estimate stimulates discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When this happens, it\u2019s clear that not everyone has a clear understanding of what needs to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another frequent scenario is when the whole team votes for high value (typically, everything above 8). A high value means uncertainty. There is either too much to do or the task has a high level of complexity that makes people uncomfortable. The best practice, in this case, is to split the story into smaller stories with more explicit objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"e6b9\">Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Scrum will always have a place in our hearts as the first widespread agile methodology. But as companies are turning to continuous deployment, having a timeboxed sprint no longer makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There will always be some specific projects where Scrum is the way to go. As companies become more agile over time, though, Kanban will rise to replace Scrum as the most used agile framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Original article published at medium.com. <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/better-programming\/scrum-is-dead-all-hail-kanban-the-new-king-2cd6249feef8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Read full article here (opens in a new tab)\">Read full article here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve been using Scrum since the beginning of my career. This was the framework that I was taught in college as the best to manage software development. When I started working, I loved it all: daily meetings, planning, retrospectives, sprints, etc. After all, I was applying what I learned. After a few years, I started [&#8230;]\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26715"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26715"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26715\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34041,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26715\/revisions\/34041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.wisdomignite.pt\/itv2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}