Kanban vs Scrum: Which One is Better?

Kanban has been pitted against Scrum and vice-versa for the longest time. The debate is still on and each camp is ready to face the arguments. While we don’t aim to arrive at a winner in this article, we want to help you understand more about Kanban and Scrum. We’ve outlined the key areas that will guide you in deriving which is a better methodology for you and your team. What are Kanban and Scrum? Kanban and Scrum are different methodologies that embrace the values and principles of the Agile manifesto. Kanban is an approach to establish a steady flow of work through a visualized process. Scrum is a framework that uses specific roles, ceremonies, and artifacts for Agile development. Both Kanban and Scrum are also Lean in nature. They both encourage teams to work towards continuous improvement and delivery. Some people mistake Kanban and Scrum to be the

By Lena Boiser|2021-01-06T08:19:21-07:00February 28th, 2019|Kaizen, Kanban, Lean Thinking, Process Flow, Scrumban|

10 Benefits of The Kanban System that Will Improve Your Business

Kanban is awesome. That’s no secret and we know it! If you agree, you’re probably already reaping the benefits of having a Kanban system in your business. But if you haven’t or are curious to learn more about what Kanban can actually do for you, read on to find out more. The Power of the Kanban System Explained The power of Kanban lies in its simplicity. You can use a pen and some post-its or even an online Kanban board to get started right away. You can apply Kanban for any business process. Unlike other Agile methodologies governed by stricter rules, a Kanban system is easier to digest. With lesser resistance, people are drawn to participate and collaborate on its implementation. Kanban is easily understood because of its visual representation of work. Teams can get information on their project just by viewing a Kanban board. Managers can get insights

By Lena Boiser|2020-04-20T00:18:19-07:00February 26th, 2019|Kaizen, Kanban, Lean Thinking, Process Flow|

Heijunka Principles and Application Simplified

If you’re wondering whether heijunka is another Japanese term that’s designed to make our work lives better, you’re absolutely right. Heijunka is a Lean technique similar to other Japanese principals like kanban and kaizen. It is also one of the 12 Pillars of the Toyota Production System. While it may not be as popular as other Japanese lean techniques such as kanban, kaizen, and Just-in-Time, it is an effective approach to establishing a smooth flow of work. Let’s explore more about what heijunka is and how you can use it. What is Heijunka? Pronounced hi-june-kah, it is a Japanese term that means “leveling.” The Lean Lexicon 5th edition defines heijunka as: “Leveling the type and quantity of production over a fixed period of time. This enables production to efficiently meet customer demands while avoiding batching and results in minimum inventories, capital costs, manpower, and production lead time through the

By Lena Boiser|2020-04-19T21:40:53-07:00February 21st, 2019|Kanban, Lean Thinking, Process Flow, Toyota Production System|

A Step by Step Guide to the Kanban System

In order to explain the Kanban system, we must first explain the word Kanban and the concept of a pull system. Then we will rely on Toyota’s expertise in using Kanban to appreciate the philosophy of complete elimination of waste (Just-in-Time) and their six rules for an effective Kanban system. Lastly, we will illustrate the system with inventory management typically found in the manufacturing world, versus a Kanban system without inventory in areas like software development and business processes. The meaning of the word Kanban The word Kanban can be translated into English from its Japanese origin as the word “signboard” or “visual card”. Therefore a Kanban system relies on visual cards that hold key information for the system to create, track and deliver these cards. A physical Kanban card example Push vs pull system The more traditional push system requires the ability to forecast the behaviors

By Dimitri Ponomareff|2022-06-01T14:13:23-07:00February 19th, 2019|Kanban, Process Flow, Toyota Production System|

Personal Kanban to Get Things Done in 2019

Are you like most people who feel pumped and energized when ringing in a new year? A new year usually brings a different kind of energy to start something new or change bad habits. New Years is almost synonymous to - yes you guessed it right - RESOLUTIONS. But how often do we follow through with our resolutions? Studies have shown that only 25% of people stay committed to their resolutions for 30 days. What’s more surprising is that only 8% of people actually do them. The energy dies down after a month and many don’t follow through with their planned resolutions. But there is a way to turn things around by using Personal Kanban. The Problem with Resolutions With a long list of intentions for the new year, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Resolutions can also be unrealistic at times because they don’t state HOW you are going

By Lena Boiser|2020-04-20T00:16:40-07:00February 12th, 2019|Kanban, Personal Kanban, Process Flow|

Kanban Agile vs Scrum vs Kanban

Scrum and Kanban are different methodologies that embrace the Agile manifesto. These three words (Agile, Scrum and Kanban) share common values and principles and therefore can be confused as synonyms, but they are not. If you seek to improve the way you deliver value to customers, first you must understand the Agile mindset; and then decide to use Scrum, Kanban, or other techniques like eXtreme Programming and even Scrumban. Now that we have clarity how each of these three words are connected, let’s explore each of them separately... Agile - Uncovering better ways to do “it” and helping others do “it”. To explain Agile, we must rely on the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. It was introduced in 2001 as a natural consequence of the world embracing software in almost everything we do. This is the challenge but also the beauty of Agile, that it’s not a detailed program

By Dimitri Ponomareff|2020-12-26T01:43:09-07:00February 5th, 2019|Kanban, Personal Kanban|

Business RadioX podcast interview with Dimitri Ponomareff

It was a pleasure to participate in this interview on Business RadioX ® for the show the Project Management Office Hours with Joe Pusz (aka PMO Joe). We covered a lot of topics during this one hour interview. You can listen to the full interview here, or listen to specific topics from the interview broken into short listening bites. Kanban What is a Kanban Board? (1:56) Portfolio Kanban (4:02) Kanban and Business Agility (4:18) Difference Between Scrum and Kanban.mp3 (7:58) Different Sprint Cycles (1:46) Purpose of Done Column (1:24) Personal Kanban (1:20) Real Life Kanban Examples in Fast Food (2:29) Agile Being a Coach (2:03) Agile Transformation Challenges (4:40) Don't Frankenstein Your Methodology (1:36) Levels of Trust and Transparency (1:24) Waterfall and Agile Organization (2:48) Whats Next for Agile (2:40) Kanban Zone Physical vs Electronic Boards (1:33) Prioritization Templates in Kanban Zone (2:46) Kanban Zone vs Jira (2:04) Thank

By Dimitri Ponomareff|2018-11-10T16:24:49-07:00November 9th, 2018|General|

Be a better lover with a romantic Personal Kanban board

Kanban started in manufacturing as a way to flow the parts on Kanban cards to assemble a product. More recently Kanban is being used to visualize any process by creating Kanban cards to represent a work item that flows on a Kanban board that represents an overall process. What if Kanban could be used for love? Personal Kanban After creating many variations of Kanban boards to help clients improve the efficiency of their team and processes, it became time to also create boards for less business oriented work…This movement is called Personal Kanban and I decided to create and use a Kanban board with Michelle the love of my life. And yes, we are still in love, but just like any change in life it wasn’t without any challenges! Building a sweet backlog As a couple we form a team of two, with individual and common goals. As a

By Dimitri Ponomareff|2022-07-14T15:40:24-07:00August 13th, 2018|Kanban, Personal Kanban|

How our team uses Kanban to develop software

We are excited to share the way we use our Kanban board to develop software. As big fans of the expression "eating your own dog food", we use our own software to develop that same software. This approach is very helpful to ensure the highest quality and keep pushing ourselves to always be in the shoes of our customers. In this article, we will share screenshots of our board in the main stages of the process. The full board When building a Kanban board you must visualize your entire process. For our team, we decided to represent the process from ideation to implementation. As you can see in the screenshot above, the board has default columns "Backlog", on the left, and "Archive", on the right. As a team, we decided to create a column called "Read Me" prior to our process columns. We will explain in the

By Dimitri Ponomareff|2022-07-25T05:43:36-07:00May 10th, 2018|Kanban, Process Flow|

Weekly Planning with Kanban – Plan once a week, deliver every day!

Weekly planning became obvious to me when discovered both Agile methodologies and Stephen Covey. It was back in 2006 when I accepted my first position as an Agile coach for a large software organization who also gave me the opportunity to become a master facilitator of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey. What was fascinating is that both philosophies focused on human behaviors and continuous improvement, but they also shared the need for weekly planning. What’s great about planning weekly, is that it’s the perfect lens to track progress because seven unique days provide the most simple and effective way to track progress using a small iteration. Yes there are many levels of planning ranging from yearly strategic goals to daily tactical tasks, but when it comes down to getting traction the weekly format is just the right size to plan just far ahead without

By Dimitri Ponomareff|2022-06-01T10:47:40-07:00March 22nd, 2018|Kaizen, Kanban, Personal Kanban|

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