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Scrum is a framework with defined accountabilities, events, artifacts and work organized into Sprints. Kanban is a strategy for improving the flow of work by visualizing it, limiting work in progress and pulling new work when capacity is available. They are not mutually exclusive: a Scrum Team can use Kanban practices while keeping the Scrum framework.

What is the difference between Scrum and Kanban?

The main difference is what each approach defines. The November 2020 Scrum Guide calls Scrum a lightweight framework for generating value through adaptive solutions to complex problems. The 2019 Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams defines Kanban as a strategy for optimizing value flow through a visual, work-in-progress-limited pull system.

Aspect Scrum Kanban
What it provides A framework with defined accountabilities, events, artifacts and rules. A flow strategy built around visualizing work, setting WIP limits, actively managing in-progress work and adapting the workflow.
Cadence Work is organized into Sprints, with events that support inspection and adaptation. Work is pulled as capacity becomes available. The cited guide does not require Sprints or prescribe a universal meeting schedule.
Accountabilities The Scrum Team comprises a Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. The cited guide describes Kanban practices for Scrum Teams; it does not set universal Kanban job titles.
Work control The Sprint Goal and Sprint Backlog guide the Sprint; Developers adapt their plan as they work. Explicit WIP limits help control how much work is started, and the team manages items already in progress.
Measurement The Scrum Guide defines artifacts and events but does not mandate velocity. The Kanban Guide identifies Work in Progress, Cycle Time, Work Item Age and Throughput as basic flow metrics.

How Scrum organizes work

Scrum puts a defined structure around a team’s work. Its accountabilities, events and artifacts work together to support empiricism—making decisions based on what is observed and learned.

Accountabilities and artifacts

A Scrum Team consists of a Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. Its three artifacts are the Product Backlog, Sprint Backlog and Increment. The Product Backlog is the ordered body of work; the Sprint Backlog represents the Sprint Goal, selected work and plan for delivering it; and the Increment is the usable outcome of completed work.

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Sprints and events

Scrum work takes place in Sprints, which provide a regular cycle for planning, doing the work, reviewing the outcome and adapting. The Scrum Guide defines the Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective as events within that framework. Their purpose is not simply to add meetings: they support inspection and adaptation at different points in the Sprint.

How Kanban manages flow

A Kanban board can make work visible, but a board alone is not the full method described by the Kanban Guide for Scrum Teams. That guide calls for four connected practices:

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  • Visualize the workflow: Show the stages work passes through so the team can see what is waiting, underway and complete.
  • Limit work in progress (WIP): Set explicit limits on how many items may be in a workflow stage or system at once.
  • Actively manage items in progress: Pay attention to work already started, including delays and blockages, rather than continually starting more.
  • Inspect and adapt the workflow: Review how work moves and adjust the workflow definition when it can better support value flow.

With a pull system, the team starts another item when capacity is available, subject to its WIP limits and workflow policies. This is different from pushing new tasks into an already busy system.

Four basic Kanban flow metrics

  • Work in Progress (WIP): The number of started but unfinished items.
  • Cycle Time: The elapsed time from starting an item to finishing it.
  • Work Item Age: The elapsed time so far for an item that has started but is not finished.
  • Throughput: The number of items completed per unit of time.

These metrics describe flow; they are not interchangeable with story points or Scrum velocity. The Kanban guide also explains the qualitative relationship described by Little’s Law: for a given process and throughput, handling more items at once generally means a longer average completion time.

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Can Scrum and Kanban work together?

Yes. Scrum.org’s Scrum with Kanban guidance describes adding Kanban practices to Scrum. The Scrum framework remains in place: the Kanban Guide says it does not replace or discount any part of the Scrum Guide, which applies in its entirety when a team is operating Scrum. In that Scrum context, the guide says no additional events are required.

In practice, a Scrum Team can make its workflow visible, establish WIP limits, manage in-progress work actively and inspect its flow metrics without abandoning Sprints, Scrum accountabilities or Scrum events. This is Scrum with Kanban practices—not a requirement to replace Scrum with a different framework.

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Which is better for your team?

Neither approach is universally better. The useful question is which structure addresses your team’s current need—and whether you want to combine them.

  • Consider Scrum if your team benefits from defined accountabilities, a Sprint cadence and regular events for planning, reviewing outcomes and adapting.
  • Consider Kanban practices if your team needs clearer visibility into work, explicit limits on what is underway, or a more deliberate way to identify and manage flow problems.
  • Consider Scrum with Kanban if you want to retain Scrum’s framework while making workflow and flow management more explicit.

These are choices based on how the approaches are defined, not guarantees about which will make a particular team faster or more successful. The official guides do not establish a universal winner or support blanket rules such as “Scrum is only for software,” “Kanban has no planning,” or “Scrum requires velocity.”

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