Scrum is a subform of Agile which involves working on tasks in sprints, arranging meetings at the start of said sprints to coordinate and assign tasks to complete during it. The main goal is to “improve communication, teamwork and speed of development” (Aston, 2021) creating a small, self-organising, multi-functional team. Sprints usually last between two weeks and a month depending on the task at hand where daily meetings (the titular Scrums) are held to report on team progress and issues. Monday.com is a tool focused on Agile as a whole that allows for simple task boards and deadline management with views of both individual and team tasks. While it tries to “create a healthy tension between delivering the right thing, the right way, as fast as possible,” (Aston, 2021) it’s also rather limiting in doing so with fixed budgets and timelines as well as a general lack of flexibility. That being said, Scrum works better in its original field of software development than in the more strategic and creative worlds of games development, for example.
Kanban is a different subform of Agile whose aim is to visualise the production process and limit the number of tasks occurring simultaneously via a limited pull system. More focus can be placed on those fewer simultaneous tasks, usually two, or any hold-ups on later stages. Compared to Scrum, Kanban is “light on process, flexible, doesn’t have prescribed roles, and simply tries to improve throughput by increasing the focus of the team on the things that really matter.” (Aston, 2021) A common tool of Kanban is something many people already use: sticky notes. These notes are organised into sections or columns with simple categories: “to-do”, “doing”, and “done” being the core three. For those working from home either due to distance or pandemic issues, Trello is a tool that does just that but in a form many people can use simultaneously, globally, and can also, at the team’s discretion, be accessible to the public to see upcoming changes that might interest them. The Kanban approach limits work-in-progress allowing more people to focus on tasks that need more attention. However, collaboration isn’t emphasised as much here as it is with Scrum: no daily meetings regarding development progress.
But what if you wanted to take the best parts of both Scrum and Kanban? Something with daily meetings and standups that limits the work in progress? Enter Scrumban. It uses the same “planning on demand” (Aston, 2021) principle as Kanban but also retains the daily Scrum reviews and retrospectives. All of the tools that would work for Scrum or Kanban work for Scrumban allowing for a change in methodology in the middle of a project to become possible; it’s also possible that your team has switched already without realising due to how much more natural it feels. The removal of sprints grants the team more flexibility in their work and the bonus structure assists collaboration and process optimisation. If your project has an unclear goal or shifting requirements, Scrumban may be the methodology for you.
Now, if I were to make a game, which of these methodologies would be best-suited for the job? I would personally go with Scrumban. The team has the flexibility to work within eased deadlines thanks to the lack of sprints - an essential piece due to the fact that programming errors can occur or textures can warp; this creates a need to use more time to perfect the end experience. The daily meetings allow for progress to be better coordinated within the team; when paired with the limited works-in-progress, this allows more people to work on tasks that require more manpower. The option of taking on that task is the individual members’ choice as a small, multifunctional unit, allowing for yet more freedom within the team as long as everything gets done at a high standard.
Bibliography
Aston, B., 2021. 9 Of The Most Popular Project Management Methodologies Made Simple - The Digital Project Manager. [online] The Digital Project Manager. Available at: <https://thedigitalprojectmanager.com/project-management-methodologies-made-simple/> [Accessed 23 March 2021].