Análise comparativa entre Scrum e Kanban em projetos de desenvolvimento de software

Abstract

Agile methodologies have played an increasingly important role in software development by providing greater flexibility, adaptability to change, and continuous value delivery. Among the most widely used approaches are Scrum and Kanban, which, although they share agile principles, present significant structural and contextual differences. In this context, this study aimed to comparatively analyze the Scrum and Kanban methodologies, focusing on flexibility, workflow, and implementation complexity, in order to propose objective criteria, grounded in the literature, to support software development teams in selecting the most appropriate approach according to the project context. To achieve this objective, a Systematic Mapping Study (SMS) was conducted using a qualitative and descriptive approach, based on the analysis of scientific studies addressing Scrum, Kanban, and Scrumban in the context of software development. The analysis of the 20 selected primary studies indicated that Scrum tends to be more suitable for contexts that require periodic planning, well-defined roles, and greater predictability in the organization of work cycles, whereas Kanban tends to be more suitable for environments characterized by continuous workflow, frequent changes, and greater operational flexibility. Based on the synthesis of the evidence, a set of objective criteria was proposed to support the selection between Scrum and Kanban, considering project, team, and organizational characteristics. The results indicate that there is no universally superior methodology, since the choice depends on the application context, and that the proposed criteria can contribute to a more structured decision-making process when adopting agile methodologies in software development projects.