Kanban – How is it different from any other Agile methodologies

While introducing the basics of Kanban to people, it raises many difficult questions on top level (leadership and management). As Kanban is less dictatorial than Scrum, the type of questions that rises are difficult to answer and one has to trace the questions back to the principles of Kanban.
One of the common arguments against Kanban is that it takes time to create and deliver the final product. Decision making in Kanban is mainly focussed on real data. This is different to what we are used to. Generally in a project plan, a schedule and timing is created by seniors which becomes the deadline for the development team.
From a cost perspective it is a good approach but from a value perspective people get stressed out which affects productivity. So, there needs to be a balance between freedom and control.
In Kanban, the main management tool to keep a balance between freedom and control is to measure flow.  Continuous monitoring of lead and cycle time gives a good idea about the flow of the team. So, team focuses on the average cycle time when starting on a new feature.
This approach is based on real data not on assumptions. The focus has been created from within the team and not by top management. It leads to effective delivery and high motivation among development team. Now, every team member is responsible for improving the flow, lead and cycle time and reducing gaps.
Kanban believes that the weakest stage in a process flow determines the rate of value creation. Continuous improvement focus of team members in an organization creates a more opportunities for knowledge sharing and it improves process flow. It will change the perception that Kanban takes longer time.
A sustainable pace is always required for the benefit of the team members and better quality end product.  Measuring flow sometimes can lead to micromanagement. Therefore, a mentor must help the team to understand that they must keep a sustainable pace to focus on the process and not on the speed of the development.
Kanban mainly focuses on flow and pushing any step in the flow can disrupt the rest of the flow. Optimization of flow guarantees a continuous improvement and pace.
Summary
Kanban emphasises on measuring flow rather that setting targets for team members. In this approach every phase in the process is important. Efficiency can be achieved only by keeping the process under control, reducing constraints and bottlenecks and optimizing the flow. This is what is important to the end users. They want the order to be delivered.

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Can Scrum be used in any type of project and in any industry?

Probably this is one of the most frequently asked questions in relation to implementation of Scrum and still baffles everyone. The old school of Scrum was very apprehensive about Scrum being used beyond software development. No prize in guessing that the inventors and early followers were from software development background and they never thought of taking Scrum beyond their own backyard. The lack of vision in the early adopters hurt the Scrum framework badly. In fact, Scrum was so crippled by this limited mind-set or simplistic vision that after almost 2 decades of its first use, it is still called as an ‘Agile Software Development’ framework and not a generic project management framework. For many years, people graduating (yes, you read it correct) in this framework, are trained to see this through the glass of few selected “so called” experts. It’s like “I am passing my ‘KFC’ secret recipe to you. Damn you, if you try to use other ingredients in my chicken or try to use my secret formula in other recipe.” The vision never grew beyond the backyard.
The philosophy behind Scrum was very powerful and it could have easily become the most efficient and popular project management framework 10 years back. Scrum talks about flexibility and adaptability, but the same ingredients were missing in its very existence. It was largely restricted to software or product development.
Thankfully Scrum has evolved to some extent over the years. The new generation of project managers and many innovative companies have tried to use Scrum philosophies beyond IT software development or product development. Today, we can see people experimenting with Scrum in any kind of projects imaginable with excellent success rate. Of course, following Scrum does not guarantee success in your projects. The key is to proper tailoring of the framework to suit your project need and to execute effectively. In spite of growing success of Scrum projects, until recently there was no unified collaboration to make it a standard best management practice. There are thousands of books on Scrum written by individual authors from their experience but those are mere case studies or memoir of individual experience. Finally, SCRUMstudy tried to came up with a generic, industry agnostic ‘Scrum Body of Knowledge’ by collaborating with several Scrum experts. The SBOK Guide has suggested a structured framework of implementing Scrum in all types of projects across all industries. We are sure the first edition of the SBOK Guide will be far from perfect; but no doubt this noble effort from SCRUMstudy has built the much needed foundation to make Scrum a sought after project management philosophy.

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