Comments on: Kanban is a Gateway Drug

By: Michael Sahota

Michael Sahota — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:42:41 +0000

Any tool (including Kanban) can be misused or mis-applied. I prefer Scrum too – when there is a cultural fit.

By: Charles Bradley, CSM, PSM I

Charles Bradley, CSM, PSM I — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:19:21 +0000

I’ve also seen Kanban be a gateway drug to dysfunction and mediocrity too, so I’m not sure it will lead to Scrum, or improved productivity, in a large percentage of cases.

I would rather see a team start with a lightweight Scrumbut and work diligently towards full on Scrum.

By: Michael Sahota

Michael Sahota — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 21:02:37 +0000

Yuval, thanks for sharing your stories. I really like your idea of starting everyone on Kanban before they are allowed to graduate to small cross-functional Scrum teams. Not sure they would ever change from Kanban to Scrum and hence not be ever make a radical shift in thinking.

By: Yuval Yeret

Yuval Yeret — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 05:57:32 +0000

Thanks for posting this!
I’ve been thinking lately of this. Ive seen many managers that come to us (agilesparks.com) asking for the hard stuff ( full on agile with scrum in your face) since they want the benefits fast. but along the path of introducing Scrum we/they understand it might be a bit more than they Really are ready for or are willing to risk.
The good cases are where we help them realiZe this up front, and go for an approach that might be a more evolutionary one. The tougher ones are when the realization comes deep into the change…. Where the regression might be more painful and make it harder to switch to an evolutionary mode rather than go back to the status quo for a while ( or worse)

I think systematic usage of the gateway drugs will help in most cases. You want the hard stuff? Prove you can deal with the first steps (kanban) and show patience ( yes, kanban kaizen or kanban and then scrum takes longer than jumping straight into scrum). Without patience even Scrum will only be veneer…

Oh, and I also see teams that use kanban to shed off the Scrum iterations training wheels like Marko is talking about. But I would say you can reach very high results with both. Depends on the context and if you’re really into it.

Oh, and I also see teams using

By: Michael Sahota

Michael Sahota — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 02:44:50 +0000

Hi Marko, I agree – you are at the opposite end of the spectrum (rainbow?).

I see different styles of Kanban: for those who aren’t be very Agile (beginners) as well as those that are already very Agile such as your company.

I call your style the elite team that has reaped the benefits from Scrum and is ready to relax iterations to become more even more Lean.

The gateway drug metaphor is for companies that are just starting down the Agile/Lean road.

Thanks for sharing the links.

By: Marko Taipale

Marko Taipale — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:06:05 +0000

Interesting post, especially for us who experienced the totally opposite of this theory of yours:

http://huitale.blogspot.com/2009/10/huitale-way-is-it-scrum-or-is-it-kanban.html and http://huitale.blogspot.com/2010/03/huitale-way-our-value-stream-map.html

How would you use drug metaphor in this case? )

By: George Rathbun

George Rathbun — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:20:08 +0000

Although not what I would call “PC”, the metaphor is dead on. Specially when you are trying to shift an organization’s culture, starting with the easy stuff and proving it works is a great way to get massive buy-in.

By: paul boos

paul boos — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:24:21 +0000

This the exact practice I used – it is the perfect gateway drug to Agility. I couldn’t agree more. I am now introducing Scrum on a few projects. Next will be Various XP practices within both frameworks (Scrum and Kanban).

Thanks for the post!