Project management isn’t one-size-fits-all.

In the Agile world, Kanban and Scrum have emerged as the two dominant methodologies for helping teams deliver value faster. However, they take fundamentally different approaches to organizing work and managing projects.

This post breaks down the differences between Kanban and Scrum to help you understand how they work and when to choose one over the other.

What is Kanban?

Kanban is a visual project management framework. It originated in Toyota’s manufacturing system in the 1940s as a visual inventory control method. In Japanese, the term literally means “visual signal” or “card.”

Software teams later adapted these principles to create a flexible system for managing development tasks and projects.

At its core, Kanban is built on two fundamental principles:

• Visualizing your workflow
• Limiting work in progress (WIP)

These simple concepts create a powerful system that helps teams identify bottlenecks, reduce multitasking, and improve the flow of work from start to finish.

Kanban boards

A typical Kanban implementation centers around a board divided into columns representing workflow stages (like “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done”).

Each work item appears as a card containing relevant details about the task. As team members complete work, they pull cards from left to right across the board to visually represent how work flows through your system.

Unlike methodologies with fixed timeboxes, Kanban creates a continuous flow where team members pull new work only when they have capacity. This pull-based system prevents overloading team members and helps maintain a sustainable pace.

When someone completes their current task, they simply pull the next highest-priority item from the previous column.

Key characteristics of Kanban

Kanban’s effectiveness comes from several core principles that distinguish it from other project management approaches:

Visualize the workflow
The Kanban board shows what’s being worked on, what’s waiting, and where bottlenecks are forming.

This transparency helps teams spot problems early and make data-driven decisions about process improvements. When everyone can see the entire workflow, communication improves, and coordination becomes more natural.

Limit work in progress (WIP)
Each column on a Kanban board has a maximum number of items allowed at once.

WIP limits prevent teams from starting too many tasks simultaneously, reducing context switching and helping work flow more efficiently. When a column reaches its WIP limit, the team must focus on completing those items before pulling in new work.

Manage flow
Kanban teams focus on optimizing the movement of work items through the system.

Measuring metrics like cycle time (how long it takes for an item to complete the process) and throughput (how many items are completed in a given period) helps identify and address inefficiencies.

The goal is to create a predictable, sustainable flow of work.

Create explicit processes
Kanban requires a clear, shared understanding of how work gets done. Teams should define:

• When an item can move from one column to the next
• What “done” means for different work types
• How to handle blocked items

These explicit policies reduce confusion and help the team work together more effectively.

What is Scrum?

Scrum provides a structured framework for complex product development with clearly defined roles, events, and artifacts.

Unlike Kanban’s continuous flow, Scrum organizes work into fixed-length iterations called Sprints, creating a predictable rhythm for planning, execution, and delivery.

Each Sprint typically lasts one to four weeks, during which the team commits to completing a specific set of work items selected from the Product Backlog. At the end of each Sprint, the team delivers a potentially shippable product that provides real value to users.

In Scrum, three essential roles work together to deliver the product:

• The Product Owner manages the Product Backlog, prioritizes work based on business value, and ensures the team builds the right thing.
• The Scrum Master serves as a process coach, removing obstacles and helping the team improve practices.
• The Development Team consists of cross-functional professionals with all the skills needed to deliver the product increment.

Key characteristics of Scrum

Scrum’s effectiveness comes from its structured approach to complex work, built around several defining characteristics:

Timeboxed iterations
Sprints have a consistent, fixed duration (one to four weeks) that doesn’t change. This creates a predictable rhythm and forces the team to break down work into manageable chunks.

The fixed timebox also instills a sense of urgency and focus, helping teams prioritize effectively and avoid scope creep during the Sprint.

Empirical process control
Scrum is built on three pillars:

• Transparency: Making work visible to everyone
• Inspection: Regularly checking progress and results
• Adaptation: Making improvements based on what’s learned

Through ceremonies, the framework includes multiple opportunities for inspection and adaptation. This allows teams to continuously improve their processes and products.

Cross-functional teams
Scrum teams include all the skills needed to deliver the product increment, including the Product Owner, Developers, Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), and Scrum Master.

Team members work together closely throughout the Sprint, helping each other complete the Sprint Backlog items. This self-sufficiency reduces handoffs and waiting time, enabling faster delivery and better collaboration.

Defined ceremonies
Scrum includes specific events that provide structure and communication opportunities.

• Sprint Planning sets the goals and plans for the upcoming Sprint.
• Daily Scrums (or standups) are 15-minute synchronization meetings where team members share progress and obstacles.
• Sprint Reviews demonstrate the completed work to stakeholders.
• Sprint Retrospectives focus on process improvement.

Kanban vs. Scrum: Key differences

Here’s how Kanban and Scrum compare across key dimensions:

Workflow approach

• Kanban: Continuous flow with no fixed iterations; work moves through the system as capacity allows.
• Scrum: Fixed-length Sprints with defined start and end dates; work is planned and committed for each Sprint.

Roles and responsibilities

• Kanban: No prescribed roles; existing team structures can adopt Kanban without reorganization.
• Scrum: Defined roles of Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Development Team with specific responsibilities.

Planning and prioritization

• Kanban: Just-in-time planning; work items can be added or reprioritized at any time.
• Scrum: Sprint planning sessions establish commitments; Sprint scope remains fixed unless exceptional circumstances arise.

Change management

• Kanban: Embraces change at any time; new items can be added as capacity allows.
• Scrum: Protects the team from scope changes during the Sprint to maintain focus.

Meetings and ceremonies

• Kanban: Minimal prescribed meetings; teams determine what’s needed (often just daily standups and periodic reviews).
• Scrum: Required ceremonies including Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Sprint Retrospective.

Metrics and reporting

• Kanban: Focuses on flow metrics like cycle time, lead time, and throughput.
• Scrum: Emphasizes velocity, burndown charts, and Sprint goal completion.

When to use Kanban

Kanban shines in specific scenarios where flexibility and continuous delivery are more important than fixed-schedule predictability.

Support and maintenance teams often find Kanban ideal because their work is unpredictable and requires quick response times. The continuous flow model allows them to address urgent issues immediately without waiting for the next Sprint planning session.

When business needs shift rapidly or stakeholders regularly reprioritize work, Kanban allows teams to adjust without disrupting their entire process.

Consider Kanban when:

• Work arrives unpredictably (support tickets, bug fixes, etc.)
• Priorities change frequently
• Quick response times are critical
• Team members work on many different types of tasks
• You need to visualize workflow bottlenecks
• Your team prefers minimal process overhead

When to use Scrum

Scrum excels in environments where teams build new products or features with reasonably stable priorities. The Sprint structure creates focus and helps deliver complete, valuable increments regularly. Scrum’s iterative approach ensures steady progress toward well-defined goals when developing a new application or major feature set.

Projects with fixed deadlines or regulatory requirements often benefit from Scrum’s predictability. The regular cadence and velocity metrics help teams forecast completion dates more accurately. Stakeholders appreciate the regular demos and the ability to see concrete progress every few weeks, which builds confidence in the team’s ability to deliver.

Consider Scrum when:

• Building new products or features
• Working with stable priorities for at least 1-4 weeks at a time
• Needing regular stakeholder feedback and demonstrations
• Dealing with complex problems that benefit from cross-functional collaboration
• Your team needs a clear structure and defined roles
• You want to improve estimation and predictability

Can you combine Kanban and Scrum?

Yes! Many teams discover that a hybrid approach—sometimes called Scrumban—offers the best of both worlds.

Rather than viewing Kanban and Scrum as mutually exclusive options, you can selectively combine elements from each methodology to address your team’s specific challenges and work patterns.

A common hybrid approach maintains Scrum’s roles and key ceremonies while adopting Kanban’s visual board and WIP limits.

Teams might hold Sprint Planning, Reviews, and Retrospectives from Scrum while using Kanban’s continuous flow and pull-based work management. This combination provides helpful structure without sacrificing flexibility when priorities change.

For example, a product development team might use two-week Sprints for planned feature work while maintaining a separate Kanban board for handling bugs and production support issues.

Implementing Kanban and Scrum with low code

Low-code development platforms (like Mendix) naturally complement both Kanban and Scrum methodologies. Low code’s visual development environment and rapid deployment capabilities align perfectly with Agile principles. Teams can quickly build, test, and iterate on applications regardless of their chosen project management approach.

Low code accelerates the feedback loop that’s central to both methodologies.

• With Kanban, teams can deploy updates continuously as soon as they’re ready, taking advantage of low-code’s streamlined deployment process.
• With Scrum, teams can deliver working software at the end of each Sprint without lengthy build and deployment cycles, making Sprint Reviews more meaningful.

Making the right choice for your team

Choosing between Kanban and Scrum or creating a hybrid approach requires an honest assessment of your team’s needs, work patterns, and organizational context.

When making your decision, consider factors like:

• Team size
• Project complexity
• Stakeholder expectations
• Organizational culture

Remember that your choice isn’t permanent. Many teams start with one approach and evolve their process based on experience and changing needs.

The key is to experiment and adapt based on what works for your team, not what works in theory or for other organizations. Don’t force a methodology that doesn’t fit your context. Instead, use these frameworks as starting points and customize them to support your team’s success.

Learn more about Mendix’s Agile framework and discover how low-code development can accelerate your Agile journey.