As O'Connor (2020) aptly describes, the scrum methodology is characterized by short phases or “sprints” when project work occurs. During sprint planning, the project team identifies a small part of the scope to be completed during the upcoming sprint, which is usually a two to four week period of time. At the end of the sprint, this work should be ready to be delivered to the client. Finally, the sprint ends with a sprint review and retrospective—or rather, lessons learned. This cycle is repeated throughout the project lifecycle until the entirety of the scope has been delivered. In many ways, this mirrors aspects of traditional project management. One of the key differences, however, is how one creates “shippable” portions of the project along the way rather than delivering everything at the very end. Doing so allows the client to realize the value of the project throughout the process rather than waiting until the project is closed to see results. It’s important to remember that although Scrum is an Agile approach, Agile does not always mean Scrum—there are many different methodologies that take an Agile approach to project management.
Increment: something that must be done and in a usable condition
The word Kanban is of Japanese origin and its meaning is linked to a time concept, “just-in-time”. As a methodology it has been around for at least 50 years in some form. It is a visual look at work that needs to be done and helps identify bottlenecks and waste. The visual representation is in a grid format and has individual cards or notes within each section. These boards might be physical or digital. The workflow processes start at the left end of the grid and work flows over to the right end as it heads toward completion (via cards). As the University of Alabama School of Business summarizes, there are five key tenets of Kanban, and these apply particularly within information systems and software development environments. These encompass:
Story card: A Kanban story card is a visual representation of a work item. Translated from Japanese, it literally means a visual (kan) card (ban). It is a core element of the Kanban system as it represents work that has been requested or is already in progress.
Check out this simple Kanban Toolkit flier created by the University of Illinois
Extreme Programming has five basic values:
Within it there are four basic activities:
It focuses on twelve core practices:
It adheres to some basic principles
As a conceptual diagram:
(image from Wells, 2009)
Integrates Scrum and Kanban principles
Using Scrum in a more traditional waterfall project management environment.
Here is a list of 42 agile methodologies that might be used.
O'Connor, S. W. (2020). Agile vs. Scrum: What's the Difference. Northeastern University Graduate Programs. Retrieved March 24, 2021 from https://www.northeastern.edu/graduate/blog/agile-vs-scrum/
ProductPlan. (n.d.). Agile Manifesto. Retrieved March 24, 2021 from https://www.productplan.com/glossary/agile-manifesto/
Wells, D. (2009). Agile Software Development: A gentle introduction. Retrieved March 24, 2021 from http://www.agile-process.org/
Zeil, S. (2019). Extreme Programming (XP). Retrieved March 24, 2021 from https://www.cs.odu.edu/~zeil/cs350/latest/Public/xprogram/index.html