How do Scrum and Kanban methodologies compare in software development?

In my perspective, Agile ensures the delivery of high-quality results through a streamlined, rapidly tested software evolution process. Additionally, within the Agile framework, various approaches, such as Scrum and Kanban, offer diverse styles to carry out work, each with its own set of constraints.

Scrum is important in Safety world Define clear sprint goals & prioritize tasks to ensure a focused and achievable scope within each sprint's timeframe. Scrum Master, facilitate regular ceremonies like sprint planning, daily stand-ups, & sprint reviews to maintain constant communication and adaptability. Work closely with the product owner to align priorities with the project vision. Encourage transparency by maintaining a visible & up-to-date backlog, allowing stakeholders to have a clear view of progress. Identify & swiftly address any impediments hindering the team's progress, ensuring a smooth workflow Regularly solicit feedback from stakeholders during sprint reviews to validate the product increment & make necessary adjustments

Scrum is, to put it simply, a way to make complex and complicated, fast-changing products and projects (or everything that applies) less uncertain and more tangible. It doesn't provide benefits in well-established and low-uncertainty, simpler and more repetitive types of work.

Choosing between Scrum and Kanban depends on factors like team structure, project type, and organizational culture. Scrum provides a structured framework with defined roles and ceremonies, making it suitable for teams new to agile. Kanban offers more flexibility and is ideal for teams with a continuous flow of work or those looking to improve their existing processes incrementally. Both Scrum and Kanban share some common agile principles: Customer Focus Visualizing Work Empirical Process Control Pull System

Scrum is an agile project management framework that emphasizes iterative development, collaboration, and adaptability. It organizes work into time-boxed iterations called sprints, fostering regular team communication and continuous improvement.

Kanban is a visual workflow management method that optimizes efficiency by visualizing work, limiting work in progress, and continuously improving the flow of tasks. It aims to enhance productivity and flexibility in processes through real-time monitoring of work status on a Kanban board.

Scrum methodology in SDLC enhanced collaboration, critical for regulatory compliance. Regular communication ensures alignment with evolving regulations, as Scrum's adaptability enables prompt adjustments to meet changing compliance needs. The iterative nature of Scrum allows rapid responses to emerging PV requirements. Incremental product development focuses on specific functionalities, facilitating continuous improvement & alignment with evolving PV needs. Scrum's emphasis on regular inspections mitigates risks, ensuring early identification & resolution of potential issues in SDLC. The result is a product of high quality that not only meets regulatory standards but also enhances user satisfaction.

Predictability: Scrum provides more predictability due to its fixed length and planned sprints and well defined roles. Clear roles and responsibilities: They have a clear defined set of roles, which makes delegation of responsibilities and taking accountability easier. Structured planning: The teams who prefer planning would benefit from Scrum as it helps prioritize tasks and set expectations. Consistent collaboration: It promotes regular communication and collaboration about the tasks through daily stand-ups, sprint reviews and retrospectives.

Scrum offers enhanced adaptability, transparency, and collaboration in project management. Its iterative approach fosters quick response to changing requirements, continuous improvement, and regular stakeholder feedback, leading to more efficient and successful delivery of high-quality products in complex and dynamic environments.

Scrum follows a structured framework with set iterations, roles, and ceremonies whereas Kanban prioritizes flexibility and continuous flow. The decision between Scrum and Kanban is typically influenced by project characteristics, requirements, and team preferences. Additionally, some teams adopt a hybrid approach called Scrumban, combining elements from both methodologies to benefit from their respective strengths.

Some disadvantages of Scrum include potential resistance to change, the need for skilled Scrum Masters, challenges in estimating and planning, and the possibility of insufficient focus on design and documentation. It may also face difficulties with large or complex projects.

Kanban gives enough flexibility and state of flow for the development teams. Limiting the work in progress items reduces the cognitive load on the team members and at the same time it gives great visibility to stakeholders and other team on what's going on at the moment.

Flexibility: It allows for changes to be made at any point in the progress which makes it well-suited for projects with frequently changing requirements. No fixed iterations: Unlike Scrum, Kanban does not have fixed iterations, which is more advantageous for teams who prefer a fluid approach to development. Continuous delivery: It emphasizes continuous flow of work, enabling faster and more consistent delivery to stakeholders. These things overall also make Kanban easier to understand and implement for beginners as well.

Kanban promotes efficient workflow by visualizing tasks, minimizing work in progress, and emphasizing continuous improvement. It enhances communication, flexibility, and transparency, reduces lead times, and enables teams to respond quickly to changing priorities, ultimately improving overall productivity and customer satisfaction.

Kanban's limitations include potential over-reliance on visual cues, lack of detailed process guidance, and minimal predefined roles. In dynamic environments, it may struggle to provide structured planning, and without careful implementation, it might lead to insufficient process improvement and neglect of strategic goals.

Kanban is more challenging and is usually considered a more "mature" set of principles to follow, as it provides less prescriptive touchpoints to inspect and adapt. A lot of professionals criticize Scrum for being vague and lightweight, but in Kanban, you have different metrics and practices and have to fill in a lot of possible cracks and gaps on your own. Having an experienced Agile Coach to support helps with that.

1. Kanban should have time boxing mechanism in place that's reasonable and does not become pushy 2. Scrum should be carefully planned so that the team can deliver based on the availability, dependency, complexity 3. Over committing in any mechanism will lead to either burnout or poor code/application quality

Scrum and Kanban are not mutually exclusive. It's possible to combine elements of both approaches to create a hybrid system that best suits your specific needs. The choice between Scrum and Kanban often depends on factors like project complexity, team size and experience, and organizational culture. Regardless of the methodology chosen, clear communication, collaboration, and commitment to continuous improvement are key to success.

Both Scrum and Kanban are relatively easy to start but difficult to master. What matters the most is: the type of work at hand, the preference of the people doing the work itself, the business agility context, and the possible overhead of any of these two.

From my experience, I see scrum methodology should be used when the team is working towards a goal and review the incremental progress and adapt the direction. It is typically suited for product development and project natured works. Kanban on the other hand is for continuous delivery, focussing on the high priority task. It may suit BAU and continuous improvements which could be minor enhancements and bug fixing. Kanban suits project natured work where value delivery cannot be showcased until all tasks are done. For instance updating the infrastructure or tech stack versions. In this scenario, team can identify a list of tasks and the order of execution to knock off each task. This provides a view of planned and completed backlog.

Scrum and Kanban has its own merits and demerits. Scrum works well in software development with smaller teams and to manage their work through a set of values, principles and practices. Scrum delivers value in chunks within one to four weeks. Kanban delivers work continously until the project is finished. Kanban is preferred when priority of work changes randomly and work has to be released immediately. It is mainly used in support and maintenance based applications. Scrum is used in software development when the work can be prioritized and released during specific time intervals.