Sabrina Ferlisi “ Dear developers, we need an estimate for tomorrow of the 100 items in the Product Backlog to accurately define when we can go to production.”
” Dear PO, when can this super useful item be delivered with certainty?“
Have you ever heard any of these phrases? Maybe even both and many times? These are legitimate questions (although one might have a problem with the timing) and yet we are often at a loss for an answer.
Would I have an alternative to the wooden language, the evasiveness or the impossible promises to keep? I think so! It is possible to improve your Scrum practice by integrating Kanban practices!
Should you choose Scrum or Kanban?
We often think that Scrum is the relevant framework for product management, and Kanban for service delivery. Either we do one or the other.
And yet! Since 2018, Scrum. org has offered the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams, a real nugget that helps sublimate Scrum.
What are the advantages of combining Kanban with Scrum?
Combining the Kanban practices with the Scrum framework allows to optimize the value stream. To do this, four fundamental metrics are available to you:
1. Work in Progress (WIP):
This is the number of items started and not yet completed. The decrease in WIP will have a great influence on the efficiency of the flow.
2. Cycle Time:
When an item is finished, you can calculate its cycle time, which is the time between when it was started and when it was finished. The shorter the cycle time to complete items, the more efficient the flow.
3. Work Item Age:
This is the current age of your element from the time it was started. Unlike cycle time, this metric only applies to items that are still in progress.
4. Throughput:
The number of work items completed per unit of time.
How to concretely combine the 2 frameworks Scrum and Kanban?
Rule 1: the Scrum framework remains unchanged! Kanban practices complement the framework by offering different opportunities.
There are 4 practices to implement:
Visualization of the Sprint Backlog workflow on a Kanban board
The idea is to visualize your flow in columns and not limit yourself to the classic “To Do”, “In Progress” and “Completed” columns. To implement a pull flow system (as opposed to a push flow), it is necessary to visualize the elements that are active – for which there is still work to be done – versus the elements that are in a completed state and waiting to be picked up in the rest of the flow, as well as to limit the work in progress.
Limit Work In Progress (WIP)
Limits are defined in the table to indicate the maximum number of elements that can be taken in parallel. You are free to define these limits for the whole table or per column.
Active management of work in progress
For work-in-progress mitigation to be successful, it is necessary to actively manage the items that are in progress by checking, for example, how long they have been in progress, to release as quickly as possible the items that are on hold or that require action by another team, and finally to have an equivalent flow in and out of the flow.
Inspect and continuously adapt the way the team uses flow optimization
A simple practice to implement in the Scrum framework that already provides many events to inspect and adapt.
What changes in my daily Scrum routine?
Do you remember rule #1? And yes, the Scrum framework remains unchanged!
However, you’re going to have different discussions and metrics to look at that will allow you to optimize value delivery. Let’s see how the Kanban practices influence the different Scrum events.
Sprint Planning
During Sprint Planning, estimates can be put aside to focus solely on the question “is this item the right size? Is it small enough to fit in our sprint or in the time frame we defined with the team?
The graph with the flow history can be a good help to help you plan for the Sprint Backlog content.
Daily Scrum
If you are (still) using the 3 questions format (“what did I do yesterday? what am I going to do today? do I have a block?”), you can put it back on the shelf.
When you implement the Kanban practices with Scrum, during the Daily Scrum, you combine the visualization of your Kanban board with a graph showing the age of the items already started.
You can then have discussions about what the right plan is for the next 24 hours to reach the Sprint Goal, not to rot items unnecessarily and to prioritize what can be finished rather than starting new items.
Doesn’t that sound a lot more powerful than the 3 questions?
Sprint Review
When you have a stabilized flow, then it is easier to answer the annoying questions I mentioned in the introduction, like “when can this item be delivered?” or “what can be part of the 3.5 release? Be careful, let’s not fool ourselves, we still don’t have a crystal ball that allows us to see the future. However, by using tools such as Monte Carlo simulation, you can use probabilities to answer these questions.
Sprint Retrospective
The retrospective will be the right place to discuss your workflow and try to optimize it by focusing on notions such as the definition of the workflow, the policies of your table, the metrics available, etc.
Who has an interest in combining Scrum with Kanban? How do I know if it’s relevant to my team?
I can’t think of any good reason not to apply Kanban practices in a Scrum environment. Implementing these practices brings significant improvements around self-management, focus, commitment and collaboration within the team.
Less impressions, more facts!
And most importantly, we will have reliable metrics, a clear and transparent visualization of our workflow and possible bottlenecks that will allow us to factually optimize our value stream!
Want to know more?
The official guide: The kanban guide for Scrum Teams, a collaboration between members of the scrum.org community and leaders of the Kanban community.
Discover the Professional Scrum with Kanban certification course given by Sabrina which allows you toimprove your Scrum practice by integrating Kanban practices.
