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Hybrid Agile Methodologies
No single methodology fits everyone. GitScrum supports hybrid approaches, letting teams combine practices from Scrum, Kanban, and other frameworks.
Understanding Hybrid Approaches
Why Hybrid
REASONS FOR HYBRID METHODOLOGIES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ PURE SCRUM: │
│ ─────────── │
│ ✅ Good for: Feature development, predictable work │
│ ❌ Challenges: Support work, frequent interruptions │
│ │
│ PURE KANBAN: │
│ ──────────── │
│ ✅ Good for: Support, maintenance, continuous flow │
│ ❌ Challenges: Planning capacity, sprint commitments │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ HYBRID WHEN: │
│ ──────────── │
│ │
│ MIXED WORK TYPES: │
│ Features (planned) + Support (unplanned) │
│ Need structure AND flexibility │
│ │
│ ORGANIZATIONAL CONSTRAINTS: │
│ Company uses sprints for planning │
│ But team needs Kanban flow for work │
│ │
│ TRANSITIONING: │
│ Moving from waterfall to agile │
│ Gradual adoption of practices │
│ │
│ TEAM PREFERENCE: │
│ Team experimented and found what works │
│ Mix of practices delivers best results │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ THE GOAL: │
│ ───────── │
│ Use practices that help YOUR team deliver value │
│ Not follow a framework for the framework's sake │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Scrumban
Combining Scrum and Kanban
SCRUMBAN OVERVIEW:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ FROM SCRUM: FROM KANBAN: │
│ ─────────── ──────────── │
│ • Sprints (optional) • Visual board │
│ • Sprint planning • WIP limits │
│ • Retrospectives • Pull system │
│ • Daily standup • Flow metrics │
│ • Backlog • Continuous improvement │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ SCRUMBAN BOARD: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ BACKLOG │ READY │ DEV (3) │REVIEW(2)│ QA (2) │ DONE ││
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ││
│ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ ││
│ │ │A │ │ │D │ │ │G │ │ │J │ │ │L │ │ │N │ ││
│ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ ││
│ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ ││
│ │ │B │ │ │E │ │ │H │ │ │K │ │ │M │ │ │O │ ││
│ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ ││
│ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ ┌──┐ │ │ │ ││
│ │ │C │ │ │F │ │ │I │ │ │ │ ││
│ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ └──┘ │ │ │ ││
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ ││
│ │ │ │ WIP │ WIP │ WIP │ ││
│ │ │ │ LIMIT │ LIMIT │ LIMIT │ ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ KEY PRACTICES: │
│ ────────────── │
│ • Sprint planning for prioritization │
│ • Kanban board with WIP limits for execution │
│ • Pull work when capacity available │
│ • Flow metrics for improvement │
│ • Retros at end of sprint │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
When to Use Scrumban
SCRUMBAN USE CASES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ MAINTENANCE TEAMS: │
│ ────────────────── │
│ Mix of planned improvements and reactive fixes │
│ Sprint planning + continuous flow │
│ │
│ SUPPORT + DEVELOPMENT: │
│ ────────────────────── │
│ Dedicated feature work with support interruptions │
│ Reserve capacity for unplanned work │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ CAPACITY ALLOCATION: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ SPRINT CAPACITY: 40 points ││
│ │ ││
│ │ PLANNED WORK: 30 points (75%) ││
│ │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ ││
│ │ │████████████████████████████████████████████████████│ ││
│ │ │ Features, Improvements, Tech Debt │ ││
│ │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ││
│ │ ││
│ │ UNPLANNED BUFFER: 10 points (25%) ││
│ │ ┌────────────────────┐ ││
│ │ │████████████████████│ ││
│ │ │ Support, Bugs, Urgent │ ││
│ │ └────────────────────┘ ││
│ │ ││
│ │ If buffer unused, pull from backlog ││
│ │ If exceeded, deferred to next sprint ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ SWIMLANES: │
│ ────────── │
│ Separate lanes for planned vs unplanned work │
│ Different WIP limits per lane │
│ Track separately for analysis │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Building Your Methodology
Customization Process
CUSTOMIZING YOUR APPROACH:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ STEP 1: START WITH A BASE │
│ ───────────────────────── │
│ Choose Scrum or Kanban as starting point │
│ Don't start from scratch │
│ Learn the framework first │
│ │
│ STEP 2: IDENTIFY PAIN POINTS │
│ ──────────────────────────── │
│ What's not working? │
│ What causes friction? │
│ What doesn't fit your context? │
│ │
│ STEP 3: EXPERIMENT │
│ ────────────────── │
│ Try one change at a time │
│ Run for 2-4 sprints │
│ Measure impact │
│ │
│ STEP 4: EVALUATE │
│ ──────────────── │
│ Did it help? │
│ Keep, adjust, or revert? │
│ Document the decision │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ CUSTOMIZATION EXAMPLES: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ PAIN POINT EXPERIMENT RESULT ││
│ │ ────────── ────────── ────── ││
│ │ Sprints too rigid Kanban-style Kept: Better ││
│ │ continuous flow for support ││
│ │ ││
│ │ No planning Added weekly Kept: Better ││
│ │ visibility planning review predictability ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Standups too long Walk the board Kept: Faster, ││
│ │ right-to-left focused ││
│ │ ││
│ │ Retros boring Tried new format Reverted: Team ││
│ │ (4Ls) preferred old ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Documentation
DOCUMENTING YOUR METHODOLOGY:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TEAM WORKING AGREEMENT: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ TEAM: Platform Engineering ││
│ │ METHODOLOGY: Scrumban (Custom) ││
│ │ LAST UPDATED: January 2025 ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CADENCE: ││
│ │ • 2-week sprints for planning ││
│ │ • Continuous flow for execution ││
│ │ • Sprint planning: Monday Week 1 ││
│ │ • Retro: Friday Week 2 ││
│ │ • Daily standup: 9:30am (15 min) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ BOARD SETUP: ││
│ │ • Columns: Backlog, Ready, Dev, Review, QA, Done ││
│ │ • WIP limits: Dev(3), Review(2), QA(2) ││
│ │ • Swimlanes: Features, Bugs, Support ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CAPACITY: ││
│ │ • 70% planned work ││
│ │ • 30% buffer for support/urgent ││
│ │ ││
│ │ CEREMONIES: ││
│ │ • Planning: 1.5 hours ││
│ │ • Standup: 15 min (walk the board) ││
│ │ • Retro: 1 hour ││
│ │ • Refinement: As needed (1hr/week typically) ││
│ │ ││
│ │ METRICS TRACKED: ││
│ │ • Cycle time ││
│ │ • Throughput ││
│ │ • Planned vs unplanned ratio ││
│ │ ││
│ │ WHAT WE DON'T DO: ││
│ │ • Story points (we count items) ││
│ │ • Sprint commitment (we have targets) ││
│ │ • Sprint demos (we demo when ready) ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ Document helps: │
│ • Onboard new team members │
│ • Explain to stakeholders │
│ • Remember why decisions were made │
│ • Review and evolve intentionally │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Evolution
Continuous Improvement
EVOLVING YOUR METHODOLOGY:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ REGULAR REVIEW: │
│ ─────────────── │
│ │
│ EVERY RETRO: │
│ "Is our process working?" │
│ Small adjustments │
│ │
│ QUARTERLY: │
│ Dedicated process review │
│ Bigger changes considered │
│ │
│ ANNUALLY: │
│ Full methodology assessment │
│ Still fit for purpose? │
│ │
│ ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ │
│ EVOLUTION EXAMPLE: │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐│
│ │ METHODOLOGY EVOLUTION - TEAM ALPHA ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 2023 Q1: Started with Scrum ││
│ │ - 2-week sprints ││
│ │ - All ceremonies ││
│ │ - Story points ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 2023 Q3: Added WIP limits ││
│ │ - Too much WIP causing delays ││
│ │ - Added Kanban WIP limits to board ││
│ │ - Cycle time improved 30% ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 2024 Q1: Dropped sprint commitments ││
│ │ - Pressure causing poor estimates ││
│ │ - Switched to throughput tracking ││
│ │ - Team happier, similar delivery ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 2024 Q3: Added support swimlane ││
│ │ - Support work disrupting sprints ││
│ │ - Dedicated capacity (25%) for support ││
│ │ - Better visibility and balance ││
│ │ ││
│ │ 2025 Q1: Current state = Scrumban ││
│ │ - Sprints for planning, Kanban for flow ││
│ │ - Continuous improvement continues ││
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘│
│ │
│ KEY: Evolve intentionally based on evidence │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘