Scrum, Lean, Kanban, Scale, and Other Agile Methods

Table of contents

Let’s talk about agile methods. Some new and dynamic, aiming to solve a variety of needs or challenges in organizations. However, the problem is that these days everyone wants to somehow be involved with agility or agile. Of course, not everything is. This reflects a deep misunderstanding of concepts as popular as Scrum and Kanban. Still, far from all the foam that comes from this hype, agility rests on principles, not practices, which is why so many methods and practices get labeled as agile. Still have doubts? Don’t worry, this short vocabulary will help you understand it like an expert.

Here I use references to other articles and authors to keep concepts simple and bring clarity to those starting their learning journey toward an agile, collaborative, and efficient mindset.

Of course, not every tool is a method, and not every method is “agile.”

Agility

According to an article by Steve Denning published in Forbes , agility is the ability of organizations to master continuous change, allowing them to thrive in a world that’s increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA ).

So, with this broad, adaptation-oriented definition, we can infer that agility can apply to complex organizations, small companies, work groups, or even individuals. For each environment there’s a set of agile methods, good practices, and experiences that help us understand the adoption process.

Scrum: High-Performing Teams

According to the parents of Scrum - and no, I don’t mean the rugby play - Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber [The Scrum Guides™ ]:

…is a framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products.

Although the definition is somewhat broad, the truth is Scrum is one of the most popular and simple agile methods for organizing small groups of people into autonomous teams. It’s very popular in the software development world, and as a team coordination mechanism it can be applied beyond projects, to operations, product maintenance, and service operation.

Scrum establishes values and principles that promote collaboration, teamwork, and accountability. It defines clear roles and a set of events or ceremonies as part of the management process.

Agility at Scale

Scrum, by definition, applies to small work teams - for some, no more than 10 people. However, large organizations face challenges inherent to size (headcount) in an office, location, or even the company as a whole, and so they need a different combination of agile methods - or agile practices.

Scale, then, is the concept related to the number of people - or agile groups - that need to interact to create a result or product.

The more people involved, the greater the complexity and the greater the need for coordination. This problem at scale was identified by Frederick Brooks in his famous essay The Mythical Man-Month , and later as a broader concept in his book The Design of Design . Scale brings with it a need for Conceptual Integrity, which requires system design to be consistent across the different actors in the process. Simple designs can be attributed to a single individual or architect; more complex concepts require the interaction of multiple people.

Want to know more about organizational agility? I invite you to read my article on the specific topic and how to get into this world of agility at scale.

Some clear examples of the challenges associated with coordinating multiple agile teams across an organization are:

Kanban

Kanban, for its part, comes from Toyota’s Just In Time production and delivery model. But, within the world of agile processes, we could oversimplify and say it’s an open communication mechanism that lets you visualize and optimize the flow of work.

Kanban can be used to complement other management and communication practices. A simple, short video explains the general concept behind this open, centralized communication model - although the underlying theory is quite a bit more complete.

Working without Stress - Kanban

Kanban - Managing the Flow of Work

Design Thinking

According to the description of MIT’s Mastering Design Thinking academic program, design thinking:

...is a powerful problem-solving process that begins with understanding customers’ unmet needs. From that insight comes an innovation process that spans concept development, applied creativity, prototyping, and experimentation. When design thinking approaches are applied to businesses, the success rate of innovation improves substantially.

If we think of agility as the ability to adapt to change, Design Thinking isn’t an agile method in itself. Still, Design Thinking is a powerful tool for identifying “the change” or the “future opportunities” that are a source of deep change. In this context, it’s a great complement and helps build competitive advantages.

Design Sprint

According to Jake Knapp, author of the book Sprint: How to solve big problems and test new ideas in just five days :

This is a tool that uses some “agile” terms, like Sprint, to describe a focused effort over a very short span - five days. It’s not an iterative model, meaning it doesn’t repeat the way Scrum Sprints do.

But it does live within what we call “agility.”

Lean

Like agility, Lean - sometimes translated as lean or slim - is a quality of an organization or a process. According to the Lean Enterprise Institute:

The core idea [behind Lean or Lean thinking] is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply put, Lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources.

Of course, this concept applies to many areas of knowledge, for example:

Management 3.0

Well, management isn’t a process or an agile method. Management 3.0 is more a line of thinking that assumes leadership and people management - management - aren’t the same thing. This term was made famous by Jurgen Appelo with the book Management 3.0. Jurgen defines M3.0 as:

Management 3.0 isn’t just another framework, it’s a mindset, combined with an ever-changing collection of games, tools, and practices to help any worker manage the organization. It’s a way of looking at work systems.

Website: Management 3.0: The Future of Management and Leadership

2026 update: in 2025, Management 3.0 merged with unFIX to create “M3K,” bringing artificial intelligence into leadership and team management practices. The underlying mindset - systems over individuals - stays the same, only the tools change.

Lean Change Management

You could say LCM - Lean Change Management - is the result of the thinking and ideas Management 3.0 brought to Jason Little. Basically, LCM is a change management model oriented around short feedback cycles - a very agile approach, some would say.

Jason Little, creator of LCM, describes it as:

Lean Change Management is a feedback-based approach to change management, inspired by the best ideas from Agile, Lean Startup, Change Management, and Design Thinking.

Lean Change Management: Modern Practices for Managing Organizational Change

Final thoughts

Although this short article covers some of the most popular “agile methods” of the moment, the truth is that not all of them are methods, and not all of them are, strictly speaking, agile. Agility is a mindset that underlies an ecosystem of established and emerging practices oriented toward the smart management of people and teams.

Concepts related to agility will keep showing up and connecting to one another. That, in itself, is agility - the ability to adapt.

Did I miss one? Probably. Do you think I should update the article with another one? Go ahead, leave your comment about “agile methods.”

· 7 min read · Last updated: 2026-09-11