the backup

Few days ago a dude ask me to explain all the buzz that goes around with SCRUM and Kanban and mostly SCRUM vs. Kanban. As my dude didn’t knew much about Agile methodologies I tried a different approach.

You know dude, it’s like American football vs. European soccer.

Interesting, he replies, can you say more?

Of course, you know, actually all says that they are playing football but when reefer to the other sport they call it either american football or european soccer. Both SCRUM and Kanban are Agile based methodologies but it’s not the same thing. People believe that one derives from another but as American football it’s more like rugby and not soccer, so Kanban it’s a kind of simplified and adapted Lean methodology rather than SCRUM.

In American football, like in SCRUM, time is heavily segregated into small time-boxes giving the team chance to re-organize and retrospect previous sprint as well as making strategic decision for the next one (and of course making room for commercials which brings a lot of money). In soccer like in Kanban time it’s more fluent and only bottlenecks make the game stops. Sometimes, a small amount of time it’s added to the previously establish one to compensate the stops. A practice well spread in the corporate Kanban practitioners.

In terms of commitment there is also an interesting paralel. Just look to an american football team in attack. The team briefly decide about the scheme and make a small commitment (usually to advance 10 yards with the ball). The time starts and they face the unknown (other team defense). There are few intense moments when team, synchronized, tries to play the scheme. Everybody from the team participate in the same time: blockers protects the quarterback, running backs and wide receivers run around into positions as nobody from the defense team knows where quarterback will pass. The team can succes or failed with the attack. In the end there is always a collective succes to fail. Either way, the team regroup to learn from experience and decide the next attack. That’s SCRUM dude, a well done SCRUM. On the other hand, in soccer teams looking to understand the unknown (other team defense) while they are playing. The main goal is to score, so keeping the ball in possession and good passing are the key aspects of the game. Even look like the whole team is participating on attack phase there are passive players that waits their moment into the phase. Passing the ball as fast and accurate as possible and active looking to score it’s sounds like Kanban.

In my opinion, SCRUM, as American football requires a lot more commitment and discipline than soccer and Kanban. That doesn’t mean that soccer or Kanban are disorganized, but they are a bit loose. Practiced well, by skilled and disciplined players creates a great show as you can see in Champions league or World Cup. In fact, played well both sports (or methodologies) brings satisfaction. But practicing it’s another thing.

Gather around on a beach side about 20 sporty guys and try to put them play soccer and/or American football. Quickly, you’ll see the difference. It comes more natural and simple to play soccer than American football. It require less skill and less discipline, rules are a bit more simple and no extra equipment is required. Even more, if you further strip rules like no off-sides or even no conners the game still have fun and sense. Also in Agile methodologies Kanban can look more natural and easy to adopt over the SCRUM which can be very difficult. Software development teams can see Kanban as a more natural and easy approach. In the end it’s just a matter of perception as both Kanban and SCRUM require both skill and discipline for a professional level.

I guess, by the end of my conversation my dude flees so I decide to put this as a post on my blog. Hope you enjoy it! Comments are welcomed!

[This post was also published on management30 community site]