Even if Scrum is the most popular Agile framework used in software development, it is not the only approach you can use. In this article, Mark Haynes discusses why you might consider Lean Kanban as a better approach for your organization.
Redmine is a popular open source project management web application written using the Ruby on Rails framework. This software is more oriented towards a traditional approach for project management with Gantt charts and calendar than Agile, Scrum or Kanban. However, the Redmine architecture allows however creating plugins to add additional features. The development of a number of Agile, Scrum, Kanban and Lean plugins has therefore been started in these past years.
Scrum and Kanban can be considered as the two main Agile approaches. In a simplistic view, Scrum is often categorized as a product development framework and Kanban is preferred when you want to manage flow or maintenance activity.
At the beginning of Agile, there was a tendency to aim at “pure” Agile, following the Scrum rules by the book. Even if there might be still Scrum cargo cult implementations, many Agilists have realized that Agile is more about continuous improvement and value delivery in a specific context than staying stand-up in daily status meetings. In this article, Mark Haynes discusses the Scrumban approach that borrows tools from both Scrum and Lean Kanban.
Scrum and Kanban are not rivals. If your Scrum Sprints are getting bogged down or missing the mark, combining Scrum with Kanban might be the Agile answer. This article from Kert Peterson provides a comprehensive explanation of how Kanban can improve your Scrum process with Kanban Task Boards, Team Boards, and a better focus on customer needs.
If most of the open source projects for Scrum tools have ended being transformed in a limited offer that supports a main commercial product, this has not been the case for Kanban. The simplicity of the Kanban approach has allowed open source software developers to create and maintain Kanban tools based on various platforms.
Trello is a free on-line project management tool owned by Atlassian that provides a flexible and visual way to organize anything. This approach is naturally close to the visual boards used in the Scrum or Kanban approaches. As the tool as an open architecture, some extensions have been developed for a better implementation of Agile project management in Trello and provides additional features like Scrum burndown charts or the implementation of WIP limits.
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