Why do Kanban, Scrum and XP At The Same Time?

Because more options are better. Because a Squad wants to use the best tools for their needs. Because maximizing flow matters. Because quality is everyone's job. Because your tool sucks at work visualization and can prevent you from collaborating well. Because your agile fluency is blocked by organizational impediments designed to command and control. Because a Scrum Master acts as a canary in the #agile coal mine. The #agile journey doesn't survive without seasoned Scrum Masters serving teams, blocking the command and control, defending Product priorities and shepherding concept to cash value delivery.

The Scrum Master is a risky role, new in most organizations. They are agents of change. They are management representative for self-organizing teams. They are the monitors of commitments to deliver and incremental improvement. Importantly, they are the "blockers and tacklers" for Product's value delivery. A canary in the agile journey. If the Scrum Master is happy, value is being realized through the

In most enterprises, change is constant and adhering to the same scope without updating priorities builds risk and delays releases to customers. Adding Kanban practices to Scrum limits work in progress to create "Flow." Scrum Masters monitor the cycle time of the Team's work and finds ways to eliminate waste and reducing cycle time. Flow can be visualized on a Kanban, preferably a physical board everyone can see and react too and share insights about.

In product development, small batches are like experiments where we test our understanding of the customer's needs and measure value added. Being "test driven" and launching many experiments leverages the values of XP (Extreme Programming.) Satisfied customers and provide feedback permiting the unambiguous measurement of value on the upside, and waste on the downside.

Using all the tools from the agile frames available gives committed Teams a chance to succeed. Committed Teams deliver effective products to appreciative customers and make going to work fun. We all like fun don't we!