Kanban vs Scrum: which should you choose?

When teams first dive into Agile, they’re often met with a whirlwind of frameworks, terms, and acronyms. It can feel a little overwhelming at first — especially when trying to figure out which approach will actually work best for your team. Take Kanban vs. Scrum for example.

Both are two different types of Agile methodology, which sit alongside a few others, including: 

• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Feature Driven Development (FDD)
• Lean Software Development
• Agile Unified Process (AUP)
• Crystal; and
• Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM).

Kanban and Scrum are fundamentally similar (each focuses on planning, improvement, and delivery), albeit with a few subtle differences. In most cases, teams will use a blend of two, depending on the type of project they’re working on. That’s why people often ask about Kanban vs Scrum — understanding the strengths of each can help you choose the right mix for your team.

What is Scrum?

Scrum is a method that helps teams work together faster, and with more flexibility. It works by breaking large, complex tasks into short, iterative cycles called Sprints – which usually take one to four weeks. Each Sprint’s goal is to encourage short, uninterrupted periods of productivity, finishing with a small, useful piece of the bigger project. 

Scrum consists of the following phases:

• Meetings (aka Ceremonies): Just like other meetings, these are events where the team gets together and shares progress.
• Sprint planning: The team chooses what they’ll work on in the coming Sprint.
• Daily scrum (or daily standup): A quick, 15-minute meeting each day to see how things are going.
• Sprint review: At the end of the Sprint, they show off what they built.
• Sprint retrospective: The team chats about what went well and what they can make better.
• Product backlog: A list of everything that needs doing, in order of importance.

Scrum in action

Say a team’s building a mobile app. Here’s how Scrum might pan out:

• The product owner makes a list of features, like login, settings, and chat.
• The team meets for sprint planning and says, “Let’s build the login thing in the next two weeks.”
• Every day, they have a quick daily standup to see how it’s going and if anyone’s stuck.
• At the end of the Sprint, they show the login screen at the Sprint review.
• Then, in the Retrospective, they talk about what went right and how to improve next time.
• They do this every Sprint. The product is built bit by bit, with regular feedback and constant improvement.

When to use it

• The work is tricky or likely to change
• You want to get something out there fast instead of waiting ages for the final thing
• The team needs to work closely and change things as they go
• There’s a clear goal, but the exact steps aren’t set in stone

Scrum is great when teams need to learn and adjust as they go. It’s not the best pick for simple, predictable jobs like moving offices or writing a single report. 

What is Kanban?

Kanban is a visual system for managing work as it moves through a process. It doesn’t have strict roles or time-boxed sprints. Instead, it’s all about flow — keeping work moving smoothly and limiting how much is being done at once.

Instead of working in fixed-length cycles like Scrum, Kanban focuses on continuous delivery, where tasks are checked off on a rolling, ad-hoc basis. Said tasks are visualized on a board, usually split into three columns titled “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done” (sometimes there are other columns, like “Testing”, depending on the project). This helps everyone see where things stand at a glance. 

Key elements of Kanban

• Kanban board: A visual board (physical or digital) showing tasks as cards, moving left to right as they progress.
• Columns: Represent stages of the process (e.g., “To Do,” “In Progress,” “Done”).
• Work In Progress (WIP) limits: Caps on how many tasks can be in each column, to prevent overload and boost focus.
• Continuous delivery: Work is pulled in only when the team has capacity rather than being scheduled in advance. 

Kanban in action

Imagine a marketing team managing blog content. They have a board with columns: “Ideas,” “Writing,” “Editing,” and “Published.” Each blog post moves across the board as it progresses. 

If the “Editing” column hits its WIP limit, no new posts can move into that stage until space frees up. This keeps the workflow balanced, and the team members focused on the task at hand.

When to use it

• Work comes in continuously rather than in set batches.
• Priorities change often, and flexibility is needed.
• You want to improve flow and spot bottlenecks fast.
• There’s no fixed deadline, but consistent progress is important.

Kanban shines in environments where transparency and flow matter more than speed or rigid structure. It’s not always the best fit in situations where planning and deadlines are key. 

Kanban vs Scrum: What’s the difference?

Scrum and Kanban often go hand-in-hand. While they both rely on an iterative way of working, they are fundamentally different. They also have different ways of managing their boards.

Roles

While both require a project manager, Kanban has no predefined roles within the team, whereas with Scrum, everyone has a set role.

Deliverables

With Kanban, products and processes are delivered on a rolling basis “as needed.” There isn’t usually an end date. Scrum is defined by Sprints, during which the product or service must be delivered.

Changes or modifications

Those using Kanban can make changes mid-project. With Scrum, changes are made only at the end of each sprint.

Daily rituals

Scrum requires daily stand-up meetings, reviews, and retrospectives. Kanban doesn’t.

Workflows

Both rely on a “pull” method of working. With Scrum, you select the work you’ll be doing for the next sprint, then work up until the end of the sprint — by which time, your workflow should be empty. With Kanban, you accept tasks as soon as they’re ready. The work keeps flowing, and you can change items in the queue as needed.

Productivity evaluation

With Kanban, productivity is measured in “cycle times,” aka, how long it takes to complete a task from beginning to end. With Scrum, each Sprint is measured against the success of the one before it.

Best for…

Kanban is best for projects with varying priorities. Scrum is better suited to teams with set priorities that are unlikely to change much over time.

Some teams find Scrum too restrictive for an Agile way of working while simultaneously finding Kanban too lacking in structure. This is where Scrumban comes in.

What is Scrumban?

Scrum + Kanban = Scrumban and it combines the best features of both.

It was initially introduced as a way to transition teams from one to the other but has since become a methodology in its own right.

With Scrumban, Scrum’s iteration planning is combined with Kanban’s pull system.

• Uses the iteration structure of Scrum (albeit a more flexible version)
• Uses the continual improvement process of Kanban.

Rather than holding daily review meetings and estimating the scope of work for every iteration, teams should just make sure the backlog is limited to a fixed size that can run down to zero before the next planning stage begins.

Iteration planning can happen at regular intervals, but unlike with Scrum, these intervals can be flexible. 

The goal is to complete the available tasks as they’re ready rather than work out the number of tasks before work begins. This smooths out the workload process and reduces time spent on iteration planning, leaving more time available for quality control.

And if a piece of work is marked as “complete” but isn’t of high quality, that single task can be sent back on repeat until it’s ready. (A cause-and-effect diagram can come in handy here if issues keep occurring.)

What are the advantages of Scrumban?

• A more flexible, “just-in-time” way of working for those previously using Scrum
• More structure for those previously using Kanban
• A shorter lead time
• Continuous improvement and minimized waste
• Less time spent on meetings (for those previously using Scrum)

Kanban vs. Scrum vs. Scrumban: Which one should you use?

As with every methodology, Scrumban works better with some projects than with others.

• If you work in a company where clients play a part in the development process, and deadlines are important, then Scrum is the one for you. 

• If you work primarily in a maintenance environment, where jobs are ongoing and development doesn’t play a key role in your output, then choose Kanban.

• For those who experience frequent priority changes, find Scrum too limiting, want to add pull features, or who fail to meet the time constraints due to lack of resources, then Scrumban is a good option.

How project management tools fit in 

Which methodology you choose ultimately depends on the type of project and how your team works. Whichever you go for, it’s important to follow best practices to have the best chance of success.

Regular team communication sits at the heart of this. Investing in an online project management tool is a good option for helping teams and stakeholders collaborate. Team members can store all their notes in one single place, while project managers can set up automatic notifications to let them know when a task’s been completed or if one’s falling behind.

Backlog, our own project management tool, works for all three approaches. Bug and issue tracking features make it easy to monitor quality and improvements, while Gantt charts, burndown charts, and Kanban-style boards mean you can see which tasks are in progress and which have been completed. It also includes task features designed to help you create, prioritize, and assign tasks.

Ultimately, it makes the whole project that little bit more collaborative, whether you’re working via Scrum, Kanban, or a blend of the two. Give it a try for free today! 

This post was originally published on January 24, 2020, and updated most recently on April 11, 2025.