Scrum and Kanban are the two most common frameworks for implementing an agile way of working. They’re two of the best ways to foster the agile mindset and realize tangible benefits from the Agile Manifesto’s values and principles. If agile is the soul, then Scrum and Kanban are the body.

Scrum is ideal for taking complex, uncertain ideas and empowering cross-functional teams to turn them into reality. It’s iterative, empirical inspect and adapt cycle lends itself to innovative product teams creating something new in the world. Kanban, which originated in manufacturing, is perfect for teams working with a repeatable, well-defined process where the focus is on optimizing flow and maximizing throughput.

You’ll often see an organization’s software development teams using Scrum and the support teams using Kanban. However, as an organization becomes more agile, with hierarchies dissolving and silos breaking down into hyper-adaptable teams the benefits of Scrum and Kanban combined become apparent. Continuous deployment DevOps is a perfect example where development and operations have merged and software features can be released automatically by the same teams creating the value.

As agile teams mature, Scrumban provides the best of both Scrum and Kanban. By evolving to a Scrumban hybrid, they take the time to plan, do, inspect and adapt by maintaining Scrum’s artifacts, events and roles, while at the same time utilizing Kanban’s defined stages, WIP limits, cycle times, lead times, and cumulative flow diagrams to visualize and optimize the flow of value.

There’s no one way to implement Scrumban. Some teams might prefer a more Scrum heavy version, and others will adopt a more Kanban focused hybrid. As with everything agile, it’s up to the team to find the right balance, and through experimentation and continuous improvement determine what works best for them.

This video walks you through how to setup Scrumban for your team in Favro.