If you found this video, the chances are you were just searching for Scrumban, and if that's
the case, you're definitely in the right place.
Today, we're going to be looking back at the origin of Scrumban and asking the question,
"Who is Scrumban for?"
Welcome to Development That Pays, the channel dedicated to profitable software development.
My name is Gary Straughan, and if we're meeting for the first time, please do consider subscribing
and hit that bell icon so that you don't miss a thing.
What is Scrumban?
It's almost a silly question.
The name Scrumban almost explains itself.
Even if you've never heard the term before, you're likely to guess that it's some combination
of Scrum and Kanban, a hybrid.
Possibly, a third way, and if that's what you thought, you'd be right, but you'd also
be missing an important part of the story.
Before we go any further, I just want to check that we're all on the same page because to
talk about Scrumban, we really do need to talk about Scrum and Kanban.
I think it should say that of all the software development frameworks, Scrum is the most
well-known, so there's every chance, if you're watching this, that you have a pretty good
understanding of Scrum, and just in case you're a little unsure, Scrum is the one where we
work in two-week sprints.
When it comes to Kanban, you may not be nearly as clear, and if that's the case for you,
well, you're not alone.
I think the problem is that we use Kanban in at least two different ways.
Yes, we use it to describe a software development framework, but long before the word was applied
in that way, it was applied to a set of process improvement principles.
You can trace that origin way back to Toyota in the 1950's and before that to a supermarket
shelf in America.
That's way beyond what I want to talk to you about today, but if you're interested in Scrum,
and Kanban, and most specifically, the differences between them, then I have some great resources
for you, including a rather wonderful cheat sheet and a fabulous mini course.
I'll tell you how to get your hands on both of those at the end of this episode.
Rewind to 2009, and if things are fuzzy now, imagine how fuzzy they were back then.
Scrum had only just come into focus with the publishing of the very first edition of The
Scrum Guide.
Kanban as a software development framework was barely being talked about.
Enter Corey Ladas.
Do you think that's how he pronounces his name?
Corey, if I just mangled your surname, I'm really sorry.
Where was I?
Oh, yes.
In 2009, Corey published this, Scrumban: Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development.
How is that for a keyword-rich title?
What's not immediately obvious from the title is that Corey had a pretty specific agenda
here.
He wasn't just saying, "In the beginning, there was Scrum, and then there was Kanban.
Now, there is Scrumban."
No, he was a good bit more directional than that, a good bit more opinionated.
What he was actually saying, and these are my words, not his, he was saying that Scrum
is flawed.
It can be improved, and here's how to do it.
How would we do it?
By applying Kanban principles.
Now, here is the rub.
There's nothing stopping us from applying Kanban principles to Scrum.
We could start today.
There are all kinds of things that we could do without ever falling foul of The Scrum
Guide.
We could begin to visualize our work with an agile board.
We could begin to limit our work and progress.
We could begin to do all kinds of things, but we tend not to, and perhaps that's because
we're not sure where to start.
Corey shows us exactly where to start.
We have our answer.
Who is Scrumban for?
Well, if we take Corey and his word, Scrumban is for teams that are currently doing Scrum.
That's a good answer.
I'm not sure that it's necessarily a complete answer.
I can see Scrumban as a possible option for teams that are just getting started with agile,
and I can even see cases where teams currently doing Kanban may want to give Scrumban a try.
Perhaps that's something we can investigate in a future episode.
For now, I'm going to stick with Corey's original intent.
In the next episode, we're going to take Scrum and move step by step, applying Kanban principles
and end up at Scrumban.
That's coming next time.
Between now and then, you might want to check out a couple of resources that I have for
you.
First of all, this rather lovely cheat sheet and this possibly even more wonderful mini
course.
You'll find links to both the cheat sheet and the mini course around this video.
You may also find one or perhaps both of these videos to be useful and informative.
Thank you very much for watching.
I look forward to seeing you next time.
Cheers for now.