In today’s competitive business environment choosing the right agile framework – Scrum Vs Kanban – for your product management can make all the difference between success and failure.
While there is a lot of talk around Agile Product Management and Software Development, most people lack understanding of the different frameworks of Agile and how they can be best applied at different stages of the product life cycle for business process optimization.
The product discovery process also involves product differentiation – where the product is analyzed for unique features that distinguishes it from its competitors.
In this article, we’ll explore the two most popular product management frameworks – Scrum and Kanban – and help you understand the differences between them. We’ll also guide you in choosing the right framework that aligns with the different stages of your product discovery process and overall product life cycle management to ensure your product’s continued success.
Understanding Product Discovery: Key Elements Successful Product Planning
Product discovery is the phase where you’re trying to figure out –
- The value your product will create for your targeted users
- The features and user experience (UX) it should provide,
- The business goals it should serve
- The technologies that should be used to develop it
Scrum for Product Discovery: Understanding Benefits and Limitations
The initial phase of product development is a crucial stage where many assumptions need to be tested, risks addressed, and new insights generated to ensure that the product is on the right track. Scrum is a great framework to use during this stage as it allows teams to work in an iterative, cyclic process to quickly identify and address any issues that arise.
Benefits of Using Scrum in Discovery Phase
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Accelerated Learning:
One of the key benefits of using Scrum during the initial phase of product development is that it enables teams to accelerate their learning. Scrum encourages teams to work in short iterations, typically two to four weeks long, and produce a potentially shippable product increment at the end of each iteration. This approach enables teams to quickly test their assumptions, analyze the impact, gather feedback through user testing and adjust their approach accordingly, rather than waiting until the end of the product lifecycle to discover that something is not working.
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Effective Risk Mitigation:
Scrum also helps to mitigate the risk of developing the wrong features, providing the wrong user experience (UX), and applying the wrong technologies. By working in short iterations, teams can quickly identify any issues that arise and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the product is meeting the needs of its users.
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Promotes Collaboration:
Another benefit of using Scrum during the initial phase of product development is that it promotes collaboration and transparency. Scrum encourages teams to work closely together and communicate regularly to ensure that everyone is on the same page.
There are about 6 principles of Scrum that one should keep in kind before adopting Scrum for your Product Management.
Limitations of Scrum in Product Discovery Process
While Scrum is a widely adopted framework for product discovery, it may not always be the best approach for every situation. As a product progresses and the minimum viable product becomes more mature, the level of uncertainty and changeability decreases. In such cases, sticking to the Scrum process may cause unnecessary delays and overheads. It is essential to assess the needs and characteristics of the product and the team at every stage of product planning to ensure business process optimization.
Kanban for Product Planning: Understanding Benefits and Limitations
Kanban is a flexible agile framework that allows teams to work on different items simultaneously and release them individually at different times. This makes it particularly useful for software release management. Kanban can be a very useful product management framework to help you manage the flow of work with high levels of efficiency.
Benefits of Using Kanban for Product planning
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Maximized Workflow Efficiency
Unlike Scrum, which relies on protected, goal-driven iterations, Kanban focuses on optimizing the flow of work through the system. It does this by visualizing the workflow, limiting work in progress, and making process policies explicit. By limiting the work in progress, Kanban helps teams to focus on delivering high-quality work rather than being overwhelmed by a large number of tasks.
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Feedback Loops for Continuous Optimization
Kanban also encourages continuous improvement by using feedback loops, given by user testing, to identify and eliminate bottlenecks especially after a product launch. This helps to ensure that the team is always working on the most valuable items and that focus is on business process optimization.
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High Transparency
Another key aspect of Kanban is its emphasis on transparency. By visualizing the workflow and making process policies explicit, everyone in the team can see what is happening and why. This promotes collaboration, trust, and accountability, as everyone has a shared understanding of the work and can work together to improve the process.
Just like Scrum, there are six core principles of Kanban that you should know before opting for Kanban
Limitations of Kanban for Product Planning
Kanban is a powerful framework for managing and optimizing workflow, but it may not be suitable for all scenarios. One of the limitations of Kanban is that it does not provide a clear structure for planning and executing work in iterations, as opposed to Scrum.
Additionally, Kanban may not be effective in situations where the team needs to work on a large number of interdependent tasks that require significant coordination and collaboration, as the lack of formal roles and responsibilities in Kanban can make it difficult to manage complex dependencies.
Kanban Vs Scrum: Making the Right Choice
To choose the right framework for you, you need to analyze the impact of each framework on your product planning, process optimization, and product discovery process.
Remember, there is no one right way, no silver bullet. Neither Scrum nor any other framework is always the best fit.
It’s important to remember that the process should follow the product. You should choose the framework that is best suited to provide a successful product — a product that does a great job at creating value for the users and for the business. A product that’s not bloated with unnecessary features. Also, a product that knows what not to do.
In conclusion, whether you choose Scrum or Kanban depends on your specific product discovery process and needs. Scrum is great for brand-new products, while Kanban is more flexible and better suited for incremental enhancements and bug fixes. Agile product management is an iterative process, and you may need to adjust and change your process over time to ensure continued success.
