Scrum and Kanban help teams focus on delivering customer value in an efficient and organized way. They facilitate team collaboration and set clear rules. But how to actually use these tools when creating and managing a digital product? Let’s learn more about Kanban and Scrum in product management.

Scrum and Kanban in product management – table of contents:

Introduction

Tools for digital product management are not only technologies used in software development but also methods of working with people (link 49). They are the key to your product’s success. In an era where technology is advancing at an unprecedented rate, developing communication skills and quickly adapting to changing market conditions become crucial. This is where Scrum and Kanban frameworks come to the rescue, offering flexible and effective methods for managing digital products. They both help teams focus on delivering customer value in an efficient and organized manner.

What is Scrum?

Scrum was created by two IT specialists, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber, in an attempt to find a way to make development teams more productive.

Scrum is an approach to project management that revolves around breaking work into short, time-boxed iterations known as sprints. It promotes regular meetings and continuous improvement. For instance, a product team may use Scrum to plan two-week sprints and review progress at the end of each sprint.

What is Kanban?

Kanban, on the other hand, is a method of visualizing work that helps teams better manage their workflow. The word Kanban comes from Japanese and literally means “sign board.” Indeed, Kanban involves organizing tasks using boards placed in the appropriate column of a table and reducing the amount of work in progress. For example, a support team can use Kanban to visualize customer queries and prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance.

Scrum and Kanban = Scrumban

Scrumban is a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban that combines the best features of both methods. It was invented by Corey Ladas. It allows teams to benefit from both the iterative nature of Scrum and the visualization and reduction of work-in-progress offered by Kanban.

While managing a product team, Scrumban is perfect for both scheduling work and simultaneously monitoring progress and the number of incoming queries.

Kanban vs Scrum. Which is better?

However, if you want to choose between Scrum and Kanban, it’s best to base your decision on the specifics of the project. If you are planning a significant change in your project, Scrum might be a better choice. For instance, if you are working on a prototype and creating a completely new application from scratch or building a new team, Scrum will help in organizing work and monitoring progress.

In contrast, if your product is already on the market and requires continuous value delivery, as well as a rapid response to customer feedback, Kanban may be a better choice. For example, it can help manage customer queries efficiently.

In a nutshell, Scrum is often used for projects that have clearly defined requirements and longer deadlines. Kanban, in turn, is ideal for projects that require continuous delivery of new features or improvements and dealing with a great number of small tasks.

Examples of Scrum and Kanban in product management

Scrum and Kanban are widely used in product management, not only in the digital realm. For example, Toyota uses Kanban to manage car production, while Spotify uses Scrum to manage its development teams. Using these agile methods for product development is also appreciated by: