Agile software maintenance: How Scrum & Kanban improves your processes

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Agile Software maintenance: How Scrum & Kanban improves your processes

Agile methods like Scrum and Kanban have revolutionised software development. But their principles are not limited to the new development of products. The often perceived Software maintenance can also benefit enormously from an agile approach. In this post we will show you how to use Scrum and Kanban to make your maintenance processes more flexible, transparent and responsive.

Why agile methods in [maintenance](/services/software maintenance and care)?

Traditional software maintenance often suffers from similar problems as classical waterfall development: rigid processes, lack of transparency and long reaction times. Agile methods offer remedy here by focusing on flexibility and continuous improvement.

"Agile maintenance means being able to react to changes without losing an overview."

Advantages of agile approach to maintenance:

• Fast response to critical errors: Short cycles and clear prioritization can address urgent problems faster.

• Bighter planning: Even if maintenance tasks are often unpredictable, agile methods allow better capacity planning.

• Higher transparency: The status of all maintenance tasks is always visible to the entire team and stakeholders.

• Continuous improvement: Regular retrospectives help to constantly optimize the maintenance process itself.

Kanban: The classic for maintenance teams

Kanban is often the first choice for maintenance teams due to its simplicity and flexibility. It is based on the visualization of the work flow on a board and the limitation of the simultaneously processed tasks (Work in Progress, WIP).

*So a Kanban board works for maintenance: *

Column Description

**Backlog / Entrance * * All new tickets (bug reports, change requirements) land here.

**Priorized * * Tickets to be processed next are sorted by importance.

• *To work * * Tickets currently processed by a developer. The number of tickets here is limited (WIP-Limit).

• *In Review / Test * * Tickets whose solution is waiting for a review or a test.

*Related * Successfully completed tickets.

The key to Kanban is the WIP limit. By limiting the number of simultaneous tasks, you avoid multitasking, increase the focus and accelerate the throughput.

Scrum: Structure for more complex maintenance scenarios

Scrum offers more structure than Kanban and is well suited for teams that carry out minor developments in addition to maintenance or if maintenance tasks are more scheduleable.

Adjustments of Scrum for maintenance:

• Sprints: Instead of the usual 2-4 weeks, sprints can