Overview

The ways a team may engage with the values of the Agile Manifesto can differ. Under the general umbrella of Agile project management, there are several approaches you may encounter in the workplace.

On this page, we will discuss:

Scrum,
Kanban
Other Approaches

Diagram with several boxes.

Middle box: "Project Management" has a branch to the right "Waterfall" and a branch to the left "Agile"

The "Agile" box branches out further into two more sections "Scrum" and "Kanban"

Scrum

Scrum is one of the most common Agile approaches that people who enter technology fields may come across.

A team will be tasked with working on a set of product features; these features become a part of a prioritized list of deliverables known as a "product backlog".

Within a certain time period, known as a "sprint" (typically around 2 weeks long), the team will complete a selected set of features, known as the "sprint backlog". The team will meet for 10-15 minutes to discuss their progress on those features; this meeting is called a "scrum," and will happen daily throughout the sprint. At the end of a sprint, there will be a "sprint review" to discuss the completed features of the sprint. There is sometimes a demonstration at this time as well (Sliger, 2011). "In scrum, a product increment is whatever you previously built, plus anything new you just finished in the latest sprint, all integrated, tested, and ready to be delivered or deployed" (Stephan, n.d., para. 5).

Illustration showing the Scrum workflow with the following sections:

Product Backlog,
Sprint Backlog,
2 to 4 weeks Sprint,
Product Increment

Kanban

Kanban is often associated with a tool known as a "Kanban board". A Kanban board is a physical or digital visualization tool that lists items, tasks, and projects in categories. Items move from left to right across the board as their status changes. Most often, you will encounter "to-do", "in progress", and "completed" categories, with variations and additional classifications based on the team's needs.

A Kanban board visually represents the team's workflow and ensures that all team members are aware of the status of each other's work, which facilitates open communication and effective collaboration.

Blackboard showing an example of Kanban. Three columns "To do" and "Work" and "Done"

Each column has sticky notes with various tasks written down. The idea is that these sticky notes will move from "To do" to "Work" and then to "Done" as the project progresses

Other Approaches

Others Agile process, tools, or philosophies that you may encounter include:

Lean Agile: a process intended to create value by eliminating or minimizing waste.
Extreme Programming (XP): "a software development methodology which is intended to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements" (Costa, 2019, para. 1).
Crystal: an Agile methodology that recognizes that each team is different and that each project has different factors that will impact success including team size, how critical the project is, and how much of a priority it is. Crystal offers flexibility to adapt the process to these factors (Wrike, n.d.).

Industry Insight

"Be very honest with your team about your current progress and give updates every day. You may be a little nervous or embarrassed to say, 'I actually didn't do much', but it is a way for the rest of the team to know your progress so they can better allocate the tasks, so just be honest."

ASIP Student, Computer Science
Completed work term as a part of a team that used Agile frameworks

References

Costa, A. (2019, August 23). Extreme programming. ProjectManagement.com. https://www.projectmanagement.com/contentPages/wiki.cfm?ID=347902&thisPageURL=/wikis/347902/Extreme-programming#_=_

Sliger, M. (2011). Agile project management with Scrum. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2011 - North America, Dallas, TX. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute. https://www.pmi.org/learning/library/agile-project-management-scrum-6269

Stephan, F. (n.d.). What is a product increment? Scrum Alliance. https://resources.scrumalliance.org/Article/product-increment#:~:text=In%20scrum%2C%20a%20product%20increment,to%20be%20delivered%20or%20deployed

Wrike. (n.d.). What is the agile crystal methodology? https://www.wrike.com/agile-guide/faq/what-is-agile-crystal-methodology/