Kanban or Scrum

Questions • Project management

Kanban or Scrum: which suits your team?

Both methods make work visible, but they organise it differently. Kanban is about steady flow; Scrum is about delivering in short, fixed cycles. The right choice depends on how predictable your work is.

Short answer

  1. Kanban manages a continuous flow of tasks across columns, with a limit on work in progress.
  2. Scrum divides work into sprints of one to four weeks with a goal agreed at the start.
  3. Choose Kanban when requests arrive unpredictably, such as support or maintenance.
  4. Choose Scrum when you build a product in increments and can commit to a sprint goal.
  5. Many teams blend the two: sprints for planning, a board for daily work.

Key differences

  • Cadence: Kanban has none fixed; Scrum has sprints with planning, review and retrospective.
  • Roles: Scrum names a Product Owner, a Scrum Master and developers; Kanban adds no new roles.
  • Change: Kanban accepts new tasks at any time; Scrum protects the sprint from changes once it has started.
  • Measures: Kanban looks at cycle time and flow; Scrum looks at velocity and burndown.

How to decide, step by step

  1. Look at the last two months: did priorities change daily or hold for weeks?
  2. If they changed daily, start with a Kanban board and a limit on work in progress.
  3. If they held, try two-week sprints with a clear goal.
  4. Run it for three cycles before judging.
  5. Adjust: add a work-in-progress limit to Scrum, or add a review rhythm to Kanban.

Common mistakes

  • Treating a board with columns as Scrum. Columns alone are not a method.
  • Letting sprints grow beyond what the team can finish.
  • Having no limit on work in progress, so everything is “in progress” at once.

Example: an IT support team

A four-person support team takes in requests all day. Sprints would be broken by urgent tickets, so they use a Kanban board with columns for new, in progress, waiting and done, and cap work in progress at six. Their weekly review looks at which tasks sat longest.

How 4myprojects helps

  • A Kanban board for every project, with tasks, owners and deadlines.
  • Sprints with start, close, burndown and velocity for teams that work in iterations.
  • Both can be used in the same project, so the method can change without moving tools.
  • Comments and an activity log keep the discussion with the task.

See also