Scrumban: The Best of Both Worlds

Scrumban emerges as a hybrid approach that seeks to combine the iterative structure and defined roles of Scrum with the flexibility and visual flow management of Kanban.

It is not a rigidly defined formal framework, but rather a pragmatic adaptation that teams use to leverage the strengths of both worlds.

It is often used as a transition step for teams moving from Scrum to Kanban, or vice versa, or simply as an adapted way of working that takes the best of each framework to fit the specific needs of the team and its context.

The core idea is to maintain the visual simplicity and flow focus of Kanban, while retaining elements of iterative prioritization and regular planning inspired by Scrum.

Hybrid of Scrum and Kanban

Scrumban is, by definition, a blend of practices. From Scrum, it often retains the idea of working in short iterations (although they may be more flexible than strict Sprints, ideally one or two weeks) and regular planning at the start of these cycles.

It may also retain ceremonies such as the Daily Standup for daily collaboration and impediment removal.

From Kanban, it prominently adopts the use of visual boards (Kanban Boards) to monitor work and manage flow.

It incorporates the principle of limiting Work in Progress (WIP) and focuses on maintaining a continuous flow.

Unlike pure Scrum, Scrumban often does not have strictly predefined roles such as Scrum Master or Product Owner, although there may be an Agile Coach involved.

Flexibility and Adaptability

One of the main advantages of Scrumban is its greater flexibility and adaptability compared to Scrum.

By not being tied to rigid Sprints and fixed scope commitments for each iteration, it allows teams to respond more easily to changing priorities or varying workload.

Planning is less anticipatory and more demand-driven (pull system), similar to Kanban.

This makes it suitable for environments where work is less predictable or where interruptions are frequent.

The team works on the highest priority items in the backlog as they have capacity, using the Kanban board and WIP limits to manage the flow efficiently.

Typical Applications

Scrumban is particularly useful in several scenarios:

• Maintenance Projects: Where the workflow is often reactive and based on incoming tickets or incidents.
• Highly Variable Projects: Where the nature of the work or priorities change frequently, making it difficult to plan fixed Sprints.
• Transition between Frameworks: Teams that are migrating from Scrum to Kanban (or vice versa) can use Scrumban as an intermediate step to gradually get used to the new practices.
• Teams Seeking Simplicity: Teams that find the entire Scrum framework too prescriptive can adopt Scrumban to maintain an iterative approach but with the visual and flow simplicity of Kanban.

In essence, it is an adaptive solution for teams that need a balance between structure and flexibility.

Summary

Scrumban emerges as a hybrid approach. It seeks to combine the iterative structure of Scrum with the flexibility and visual flow management of Kanban.

It is not an official framework, but a pragmatic adaptation. It retains iterations and planning from Scrum, but adopts visual boards and WIP limits from Kanban.

It offers greater flexibility and adaptability than Scrum. It is useful in maintenance projects or with high variation, or as a transition step.