Kanban does not compete with Scrum. Kanban can be applied by Scrum teams to improve and address issues they might be facing with their development processes. Far too often, Kanban gets positioned as a replacement for Scrum, when it can really be a powerful tool for Scrum teams to improve their overall delivery capability!

1. It’s Not Scrum Vs. Kanban!
It’s Scrum And Kanban.
LeanKanban India 2016

2. Agenda
¨ What is Kanban? What Kanban is not?
¨ Why might you consider Kanban? (Or, Some of the challenges
of Scrum)
¨ Applying Kanban to Scrum
¨ The value of “Upstream Kanban”
¨ What’s in a name?
¨ Resources
¨ Q&A
Digite, Inc.
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3. Digite, Inc.
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“Scrum vs. Kanban”
Is it an emotional thing?

4. The Kanban Method
Change Management Principles
1. Start with what you do now
q Understanding current processes, as actually practiced
q Respecting existing roles, responsibilities & job titles
2. Gain agreement to pursue improvement through
evolutionary change
3. Encourage acts of leadership at all levels
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5. Kanban Method uses…
… uses kanban boards to visualize invisible work,
workflow & business risks together with kanban systems
which limit work-in-progress
Kanban Method delivers…
… faster, more predictable service delivery and an
adaptive capability that enables you to respond
effectively to changes customer demand or your business
environment
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6. The Kanban Method
General Practices
1. Visualize (with a kanban board 看板)
2. Limit work-in-progress (with kanban かんばん)
3. Manage flow
4. Make policies explicit
5. Implement feedback loops
6. Improve collaboratively, evolve experimentally
(using models & the scientific method)
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7. The Kanban Method is not…
A project management method
nor
A software development lifecycle process
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8. In the absence of an existing
methodology/ process, the Kanban
Method cannot be applied/ used!
Digite, Inc.
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9. So, how well is Scrum working for you?
¨ It is working just fine for me!
¨ I think it is working fine – but I’d like to
know how we can get better..
¨ I need serious and immediate help to
improve!!
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10. Some Challenges in Scrum
¨ Estimation Challenges
¨ Missed Scope/ Deadlines; Stories leak out
¨ Software is not necessarily working or tested
¨ Overwhelming focus on “rituals”
¤ how to calculate the right velocity,
¤ what % of time to allocate to surprises,
¤ estimation inaccuracies and other such problems.
¨ The Challenge of Batch Sizes
¨ Disruptive Role-changes and Org Changes
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11. Flow vs. Batching of Work
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12. Overburdening is a common Problem
¨ Multi-tasking is a commonly expected performance measure in
most team. We are expected to be able to handle multiple
things at the same time.
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13. Multitasking is Bad!
Kanban helps you Reduce it
“It’s unequivocally the case that workers who are doing multiple things at one time are
doing them poorly,” said Clifford Nass, director of the Communication Between Humans
and Interactive Media Lab at Stanford University.
“The human brain just really isn’t built to switch rapidly from one task to another.
Workers who constantly multitask are hurting their ability to get work done, even when
they are not multitasking. People become much more distracted, can’t manage their
memory very well.”
Companies that demand multitasking may be damaging productivity. “It would be a total
tragedy if when we have so much potential to make the work force more intelligent, we
are actually making the work force dumber,” Nass said. “Companies that are demanding
that workers multitask might not only be hurting their productivity, but may be making the
workforce worse thinkers.”
*Ruth Mantell, Wall Street Journal Market Watch, July 12, 2011, “Multitasking: More
work, less productivity”
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14. Multi-tasking is one reason
we have too much WIP
1 - 10 I – X (Roman) A - J
Start timer for 1 minute
Fill in each row left to right
Stop when timer goes off or you reach the
limit shown at the top of each column
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15. Multi-tasking is one reason
we have too much WIP
1 - 10 I – X (Roman) A - J
Start timer for 1 minute
Fill in each column top to bottom starting
at the left column
Stop when timer goes off
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16. Stop Multitasking
Stop STARTING! Start FINISHING!
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17. Applying Kanban to your Scrum
Processes
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18. Should you be Applying Kanban to Scrum?
¨ If everything is going well – and you are delivering software
to your customer as per their expectations – perhaps there is
no need to!
¨ If you know – or have niggling doubts – that you could be
doing better, then by all means, look at Kanban!
¨ Even if you don’t and you’d like to explore Kanban, that’s a
great reason as well.
Digite, Inc.
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19. Implementing Kanban in a Scrum environment
¨ Short Term: Start with what you have
¤ Start with all the Standard Practices
¤ Implement WIP Limits and Manage Flow
¨ Medium Term: Evaluate Improvement Opportunities
¤ Evaluate/ Implement 2-Phase Commitment
¤ Tweak WIP Limits and Process Steps
¨ Long Term:
¤ Consider moving to faster/ on-demand replenishment
¤ Use models such as Risk Assessment and Monte Carlo
Simulation for better Demand Management and Delivery
Forecasting
Digite, Inc.
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20. Start with What you do Now
¨ Start with What you do Now
¤ Continue with your current Scrum processes and rituals, roles
and titles
¤ Continue to do Sprints and Releases, and use Scrum metrics
and measures
¨ Agree to Improve Incrementally
¨ Allow acts of leadership at all levels
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21. The Essence of Kanban in Action
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22. Improve the Process Visualization
(From here….)
Backlog Next DoneIn-progress
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23. Improve the Process Visualization
(….to here!)
DoneNext
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done Ongoing Done
Deploy
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• Team should be able to observe Flow
• Handoffs should become defined
• All Process Steps should be visible

24. Implement WIP Limits
DoneNext
5 ∞
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done Ongoing Done
3 3∞ ∞
Deploy
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• Defining constraints helps Flow
• Communicates available capacity to the team and stakeholders

25. WIP Limits benefits
¨ Controls Multi-tasking
¨ Signal that capacity is available;
¨ Can be by person, by workflow, by work item type, or
by total number of items in progress;
¨ Promote finishing & quality;
¨ Provoke important discussions;
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26. Implement Flow
(Flow is the movement of the work)
Flow – from Engineering Ready
to Release Ready
FLOW
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27. Optimizing Capacity, Maximizing Flow
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28. Make Policies Explicit
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29. What goes on the
board?
What is written
on a ticket?
How does the
board work?
Cadence
Who can
modify?
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30. Implement/ Continue with Feedback Loops
¨ Daily Standup Meetings/ Retrospectives
¨ Kanban Metrics
¤ Cumulative Flow
¤ Lead Time
¨ Kanban Board
¤ WIP Limit violations
¤ Blockers
¤ Review Stages
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31. Focus on Delivery to Customer As Soon As Possible
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32. Kanban Board – Information Radiator
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33. Improve Collaboratively, Evolve Experimentally
(Using models and the Scientific Method)
¨ Look for opportunities for improvement
¤ Bottlenecks
¤ Sources of rework/ defects
¨ Manage variability in incoming Demand with
“Classes of Service”
¨ Implement 2-Phase Commit
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34. Evaluate Bottlenecks
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35. Risk Dimensions
(also called Class of Service)
• “What will happen if you
don’t finish the work item on
time” (Cost of Delay)
• A set of policies that apply
to a type of work.
• Can be indicated with colors,
shapes, stickers, etc.
• Can affect prioritization
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36. Risk Dimensions
Backlog Next Done
3
In-progress
3
Expedite
Fixed Date
Standard
Intangible
∞ ∞
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37. Think Outside the (Dev) Box
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38. Common Challenges in Software Development
¨ Upfront Planning and Prioritization
¨ Conflict of priorities between various stakeholders
¨ Shifting Business Priorities
¨ Internal and External Sources of Demand
¨ Different type of work and different classes of service
¨ High levels of Discard Rates
Upstream Kanban and 2 Phase Commit will help Streamline the
Inflow of Work to the Dev Team
Digite, Inc.
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39. Consider an “Upstream Kanban” board
DoneNext
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done Ongoing Done
Deploy
Spec
Ongoing
Prioritization
Done
Pool
of Ideas
Ready
Ongoing Done
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40. H
F
F
O
M
N
K
J
I
Pull
Kanban systems are pull systems
Ideas
D
E
A
I
Dev
Ready
G
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 3
Test
Ready
5
F
B
CPull
Pull
*
There is capacity here
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
Pulling work from
development will create
capacity here too –
the pull signals move
upstream!
Now we have capacity to
replenish our ready buffer Digite, Inc.
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41. In Flow Systems, Commitment is deferred
H
E
C A
I
D
Commitment point
F
F
FF
F
F F
G
Pull
Wish to avoid aborting after commitment
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 3
Test
Ready
5
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
We are committing to getting started.
We are certain we want to take
delivery.
Ideas remain optional and (ideally)
unprioritized
Digite, Inc.
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42. Software Teams often see High Discard
rates
H
E
C A
I
D
F
F
F F
G
H
I
Reject
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 3
Test
Ready
5
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
Discarded
The discard rate seen at a Microsoft
team in 2004 was 48%. ~50% is
commonly observed
Options have value because the future
is uncertain
0% discard rate implies there is no
uncertainty about the future
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43. Test
Ready
F
F
FF
F
F F
More Frequent Replenishment
H
E
C A
I
G
D
Replenishment
Discarded
I
Pull
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 35
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
The frequency of system
replenishment should reflect arrival
rate of new information and the
transaction & coordination costs of
holding a meeting
Frequent replenishment is
more agile.
On-demand replenishment is
most agile!
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44. Test
Ready
F
F
FF
F
F F
Delivery Frequency
H
E
C A
I
G
D
Delivery
Discarded
I
Pull
The frequency of delivery should
reflect the transaction & coordination
costs of deployment plus costs &
tolerance of customer to take delivery
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 35
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
UAT and Release buffer sizes can
reduce as frequency of delivery
increases
Frequent delivery is more agile.
On-demand delivery is most
agile!
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45. Test
Ready
F
N
K
M
L J
F
Specific delivery commitment may be
deferred even later
H E
C
A
I
G
D
2nd
Commitment
point*
Discarded
I
Ideas
Dev
Ready
5
Ongoing
Development Testing
Done
3 35
UAT
Release
Ready
∞ ∞
We are now committing to a specific
release date
*This may happen earlier if
circumstances demand it
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46. Long Term…
¨ Move towards Iteration-less delivery?
¨ Use models such as Monte Carlo simulation to
forecast capability and set customer
expectations
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47. What’s in a Name?
Scrum + Kanban =
Scrum or Scrumban or
Kanban – YOUR
Choice!
The Kanban Method provides a number of tools
and techniques to boost the performance of
Scrum teams!
Digite, Inc.
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48. Scrum and (not vs.) Kanban
Kanban does not compete with Scrum.
Kanban complements and supplements
Scrum!
Digite, Inc.
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49. Resources
¨ http://yuvalyeret.com/so-what-is-scrumban/
¨ http://blog.venturepact.com/19-proven-benefits-of-scrumban/
¨ http://www.deloittedigital.com/us/blog/scrumban-a-
different-way-to-be-agile
¨ https://www.agilealliance.org/what-is-scrumban/
¨ Scrumban – and other Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean
Software Development; by Corey Ladas
¨ Kanban and Scrum – making the most of both; by Henrik
Kniberg & Mattias Skarin
Digite, Inc.
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50. Thank you!
¨ Mahesh Singh
¤ Co-founder, SVP – Product/Marketing, Digité, Inc.
¨ Kanban Coaching Professional
¨ @maheshsingh/ mahesh@digite.com/ +1 (408) 761-2238
¨ www.swiftkanban.com/ www.digite.com
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