Balancing Quality And Speed: Kanban Vs. Scrum

What is Kanban?

Kanban is an agile framework that focuses on visualizing workflow, limiting work-in-progress, and managing flow. The goal of Kanban is to create a smooth, continuous flow of work to optimize efficiency, throughput, and responsiveness. Some key principles of Kanban include:

Visualize workflow on a kanban board to see bottlenecks
Limit work-in-progress to focus on finishing existing tasks
Manage flow by adjusting workflow policies to balance speed and quality

Kanban utilizes pull systems, work item types, classes of service, and other methods to incrementally improve process. There are no prescribed roles or ceremonies as work is pulled according to demand. Kanban promotes evolutionary change in organizations through transparency, inspection, and adaptation.

What is Scrum?

Scrum is an iterative, incremental agile framework designed to provide structure for teams developing complex products. Some defining aspects of Scrum include:

Table of Contents

Fixed-length sprints, typically 2-4 weeks long
Daily 15 minute standup meetings for coordination
Sprint reviews to demonstrate working product increments
Defined Scrum roles including Product Owner and Scrum Master
Commitment to scope and sprint goals

Scrum focuses on getting working software out quickly and gathering feedback, even if it is not fully featured. It relies on empirical process control, self-organization, and responding to change. The timeboxed sprints provide urgency and regularity for delivery milestones.

Key Differences

While both are agile frameworks, Kanban and Scrum have some fundamental differences in their approach:

Incremental Delivery vs Fixed Sprints – Kanban promotes continuous delivery as opposed to Scrum’s fixed length sprints
Continuous Flow vs Timeboxed Iterations – Kanban optimizes for smooth flow of work while Scrum iterates in short sprints
Flexible Planning vs Committed Scope – Kanban adapts based on changing priorities while Scrum commits to sprint backlogs

When to Use Kanban

Some situations where Kanban is a good fit:

Frequently changing priorities where flexibility is necessary
Teams that must balance multiple projects with incoming tickets/requests
Products with frequent production releases, maintenance, or operations work
Reducing lead time and improving process is the main focus

When to Use Scrum

Some situations where Scrum is a preferable framework:

Building new products from scratch with a defined roadmap
Cross-functional teams who can allocate 100% to sprint work
Environments where creativity, problem solving, and collaboration are crucial
Stakeholders request higher planning visibility and sprint demos

Balancing Speed and Quality

To balance the speed of agile delivery with quality:

Implement WIP limits to focus teams and limit unsustainable multitasking
Automate testing frameworks so quality does not become a bottleneck
Prioritization over rigid planning allows value-focused progress

Quality does not need to be sacrificed for agility. Well-defined processes, test automation, and continuous delivery practices allow both.

Example Implementations

Some examples of Kanban and Scrum tools:

Kanban Boards – Trello, Jira, Asana
Sprint Tracking – Jira, VersionOne
Code Repositories – GitHub, GitLab

These tools allow teams to visualize workflow, track sprints, share code, gather feedback, and promote collaboration.

Here is sample Python code for a basic Kanban ticket tracking system:

import datetime

class Ticket:
    def __init__(self, title, status='To Do'):
        self.title = title
        self.status = status
        self.created_at = datetime.datetime.now()

class KanbanBoard:
    def __init__(self):
        self.columns = {'To Do':[], 'In Progress':[], 'Done':[]}
    
    def add_ticket(self, ticket):
        self.columns[ticket.status].append(ticket)

    def move_ticket(self, ticket, new_status):
        ticket.status = new_status
        self.columns[new_status].append(ticket)
        self.columns[ticket.status].remove(ticket)

board = KanbanBoard()
ticket1 = Ticket('New ticket')
board.add_ticket(ticket1)
board.move_ticket(ticket1, 'In Progress')

print(board.columns)

Adapting and Scaling

To scale agile frameworks:

Tailor the process to team size, product, and business context
Use metrics to guide evolutionary, incremental improvements
Focus on outcomes over prescriptive methods

For example, large products can use Scrum-of-Scrums to connect multiple teams. Mature teams may only need daily standups or informal coordination over proscriptive ceremonies. The process should enable, not constrain, delivery.

Conclusion

There is no universally superior agile framework
Balance flexibility of Kanban and structure of Scrum for context
Continuously improve process through inspection and adaptation
Focus on sustainable pace and quality to avoid technical debt accumulation

The right agile approach depends on the team, product, stage of development, and business priorities. By iterating based on feedback, observing outcomes, and balancing quality and speed, teams can deliver value responsively and sustainably.