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Kanban

Kanban is a concept that originated from Japanese production philosophy and later evolved into a popular method for project management and workflow organization. The term "Kanban" comes from Japanese and translates to "card" or "signal."

The core principle of Kanban is to visually represent work and manage the flow of tasks or processes. Work tasks or items are visualized on cards, often referred to as "Kanban cards," which are typically arranged on a physical or digital board. Each card represents a task or work item.

The main goals of Kanban are:

  1. Transparency: All team members have a clear view of ongoing tasks, work progress, and priorities.
  2. Flow: By limiting the number of tasks being worked on simultaneously, a smooth flow of work is achieved, avoiding bottlenecks and overloading.
  3. Continuous Improvement: Kanban encourages regular review of the workflow, identifying bottlenecks, delays, or inefficient processes to continuously optimize them.
  4. Flexibility: Kanban allows for adjusting priorities and tasks as needed, particularly beneficial in dynamic and agile environments.

The fundamental elements of a Kanban system include:

  • Kanban Cards: These represent individual tasks or work orders. They usually contain information such as task descriptions, responsibilities, and status.
  • Kanban Board: This is the visual representation of the workflow. It consists of columns representing different phases of the work process, such as "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done."
  • Limited Work-in-Progress (WIP): Kanban restricts the number of tasks that can be in progress simultaneously to avoid overload and bottlenecks.
  • Pull System: Work is pulled into the process only when a team member has the capacity for it, rather than tasks being actively assigned.

Kanban is commonly used in agile software development teams but has found applications in many other areas, from manufacturing to project management. It's a flexible method that can be adapted to the specific needs and requirements of a team or project.


SCRUM

Scrum is an agile project management framework that was originally developed for software development but has also been successfully applied in other fields. It was designed to help teams efficiently and flexibly tackle complex tasks using iterative and incremental approaches. Scrum emphasizes collaboration, transparency, and adaptability.

The core idea of Scrum is to divide a project into a series of time periods called "sprints," which typically last 1 to 4 weeks. During a sprint, the development team works on a limited set of tasks that were previously defined in the form of "user stories" or requirements. The team meets regularly for short meetings to review progress, discuss challenges, and plan the next steps.

The main roles in a Scrum team are:

  1. Product Owner: This person is responsible for defining and prioritizing the project's requirements. They communicate the vision and requirements to the development team.

  2. Development Team: This interdisciplinary team is responsible for implementing the requirements and delivering product increments. They self-organize and make decisions on how the work will be done.

  3. Scrum Master: This person supports the team by ensuring that Scrum practices are correctly applied and by removing any obstacles that could hinder progress.

During a sprint, the team goes through several steps, including Sprint Planning (defining what will be accomplished during the sprint), Daily Standup (short daily meetings for coordination), Sprint Review (presenting completed work), and Sprint Retrospective (analyzing the past sprint and identifying improvement opportunities).

Scrum allows teams to be flexible in responding to changes and regularly deliver functional product increments, increasing the likelihood that the end product will meet customer requirements. It has proven to be an effective framework for promoting agility and collaboration in projects.