For Project Management: Kanban Or Scrum?

Are you researching project collaboration tools? You may have narrowed it down to two. Find out which is better for project management - Kanban or Scrum...

Which Is Better For Project Management - Kanban Or Scrum?

Are you trying to decide whether to implement Kanban or Scrum for managing a new project? The choice really depends on the type of project that you are working on. Both have advantages as project management tools.

Here, we are looking at Kanban vs Scrum board and the pros and cons of each so you can make an informed choice about which is best for your business.

Scrum vs. Kanban

There are many similarities between Kanban and Scrum boards - They are each great tools. Both focus on the lean model and are great for Agile projects which promote a continuous workflow schedule and promote transparency within the workplace. This helps to improve the process so you can break it down into smaller, more manageable pieces.

When To Use Kanban

What most project managers and companies love about implementing Kanban is there is no real training required to use it and you don’t need to have lots of previous experience with it. Kanban is easy to pick up and allows your team to hit the ground running on a collaborative project.

If you are looking to improve your workflow and minimize wasted time, then Kanban is very effective, as it will also allow more flexibility within the process. Kanban improves the delivery flow so your team can complete projects faster and you can also trim what you don’t need.

Finally, everyone will be able to access Kanban boards. From highly skilled team members to general staff. So this means that team members of varied skill levels can all work on a project at the one time.

Are There Any Issues With Kanban?

There are not too many issues that arise from using Kanban as it is extremely simple to use. Most concerns tend to occur when people are not using it correctly. Teams should avoid making their Kanban board too complex as this takes away from the simple design.

Additionally, steering away from hard deadlines can actually make projects take longer than necessary to complete.

When To Opt For Scrum

While Kanban allows team members with a variety of skill levels to work on the board, Scrum is a little more structured.

If your project has people in more specific roles with their own set procedures to follow then Scrum may be a better option for your team. Giving everyone access to these boards creates more transparency and helps you to get all members of the team on the same page and working collaboratively as a fully integrated team.

Another reason many teams like scrum is because it increases team accountability. As your project moves through each stage, this means that team members will be able to meet more often and again increase transparency. This allows you to also see who is working hard and which team members should be rewarded.

Scrum can easily accommodate changes to a project, which is likely to happen as most projects do tend to have changes over time. Depending on the team and the project, this can be quite a valuable feature!

Finally, a fantastic factor about Scrum is its cost. You can see exactly the time and speed at which a project can be completed, so there is a potential to save on expenditures.

Are There Any Issues With Scrum?

Just like Kanban, there are also some issues that come from using the Scrum project management tool.

The biggest issue that many people will have with Scrum Is that you really need some previous experience using it, or you will need to spend some considerable time learning how to use it before joining your team. This can affect project completion time, however, it is important to remember that this is just temporary and it will improve over time. This applies to the whole team, as both the Scrum leader and everyone below him will need to be able to use the Scrum board otherwise this is definitely going to cause serious problems later on down the line.

With Scum, you also need to ensure that all projects are well-defined, because if not, this will quickly lead to inaccuracies. This can, of course, happen with any project, but with a Scrum project, it will be identified very quickly and can have big consequences from the outset.