Projects: Kanban and Scrum
September 11th, 2023
It's not too uncommon for me to help kick off a new project. When I do there's always the necessary choice of whether to track the work with a traditional Scrum approach or instead choose Kanban. Personally, I prefer Kanban, but depending on the team and the project Scrum is a choice I'll make.
For the most part, when choosing one over the other I like to keep it simple. For a team of seasoned engineers who may or may not already know each other, I immediately begin to drift towards Kanban. Generally speaking, I expect senior engineers to not need much in the way of help. On the flipside, if I feel like a large percentage of engineers on the team may need some form of guard rails, then I begin to lean towards Scrum.
For Kanban, I expect things can be kept simple with a basic work
board enabling engineers to select stories and move them from left to
right. I also like to keep the number of columns tracking work as
minimal as possible - especially at first. For example, I often tend
to start with columns for TODO, IN
PROGRESS, IN REVIEW, and COMPLETE.
Less is more. Kanban can really shine, in my experience, when it's
kept lightweight and your engineers are experienced.
I'll advocate for Scrum, on the other hand, when the overall experience level of the engineering team is low. I view Scrum as a good way to introduce good practice to newer engineers (or those unfamiliar with technical project management). With the guard rails in place that Scrum puts in place, the team can find their cadence, grow their experience, and become more confident in delivery.