You’ve landed your first developer role, maybe at a fast-moving startup with jobs in Poland or a major tech firm with jobs in Germany. During your onboarding, the team lead says, “We’re an Agile shop. This sprint, you’ll pick up a ticket from the Kanban board.”
…Wait. Sprint? Kanban?
Welcome to Agile. Agile isn’t a single “thing”; it’s a mindset focused on delivering value in small, incremental, and flexible steps. Scrum and Kanban are the two most popular “frameworks” or ways of doing Agile.
Understanding the difference is key to fitting into your new team.
🏃♂️ What is Scrum? The “Sprint” Framework
Scrum is the most common framework you’ll encounter. It’s built on a structured, time-boxed cycle called a Sprint.
- Core Idea: A Sprint is a fixed-length mini-project (usually 2 weeks). The team commits to a “forecast” of work at the beginning and aims to deliver a potentially shippable product increment at the end.
- Key Roles: Scrum has three specific roles:
- Product Owner: The “voice of the customer.” Manages the backlog of work and prioritizes what’s most valuable.
- Scrum Master: The “coach.” Helps the team follow the process and removes any blockers or problems.
- Development Team: The people doing the work (that’s you!).
- The “Ceremonies”: You’ll live by this calendar:
- Sprint Planning: (Start of sprint) The team plans what work they can complete.
- Daily Scrum: (Every day) A 15-min “stand-up” to sync: What did I do yesterday? What will I do today? What is blocking me?
- Sprint Review: (End of sprint) Show the work you completed (the “what”).
- Sprint Retrospective: (End of sprint) Discuss how the process went (the “how”).
- Best for: Projects with a clear set of deliverables and where a 2-week (or 1-4 week) rhythm makes sense.
➡️ What is Kanban? The “Visual Flow” Framework
Kanban (Japanese for “visual sign”) is all about visualizing your work, limiting work-in-progress, and maximizing efficiency. It’s a continuous flow, not a 2-week cycle.
- Core Idea: Work is visualized on a “Kanban board” with columns (e.g., To Do, In Progress, Code Review, Done). The main rule is to limit Work-In-Progress (WIP). You can’t have 10 tasks “In Progress” at once. You must finish one before starting a new one.
- Key Roles: There are no required roles like in Scrum. The team is often self-organized.
- The “Ceremonies”: It’s much more flexible. There are no mandatory “sprints.” The team might still do “stand-ups,” but the focus is on the flow of work, not a deadline.
- Best for: Teams with a high volume of unpredictable or varied tasks, like support teams, DevOps, or teams that need to respond to requests quickly.
Scrum vs. Kanban: The Main Differences
| Feature | Scrum | Kanban |
| Cadence | Fixed-length Sprints (e.g., 2 weeks) | Continuous flow (no set cycles) |
| Roles | Required: Product Owner, Scrum Master, Dev Team | No required roles. Often has a “Service Delivery Manager”. |
| Key Metric | Velocity: How many “story points” the team completes per sprint. | Cycle Time: How long it takes one task to get from “To Do” to “Done.” |
| Changing Work | Locked during a sprint (to ensure focus). | Flexible. New high-priority items can be added at any time. |
When a recruitment agency, get-talent.eu in Europe places you, they’ll often mention the team’s methodology. Now you know: “Scrum” means a structured, 2-week rhythm. “Kanban” means a flexible, continuous flow. Both are just tools to help you build great software.
References
- Businessmap: Kanban vs. Scrum: 7 Differences You Must Know
- Atlassian: Scrum vs. Kanban
- Agile Alliance: What is Agile?