What is the difference between Scrum and Kanban?
Assesses fundamental understanding of Agile & Scrum conventions, runtime behavior, and memory/performance considerations.
Hiring managers look for precision, avoidance of ambiguous jargon, and ability to explain trade-offs under real production conditions.
Both are agile approaches, but they differ in structure and flow.
Scrum works in fixed length sprints with a committed Sprint Goal and a defined set of events and roles: Product Owner, Scrum Master and Developers. Work is planned and reviewed each sprint, and change within a sprint is limited.
Kanban is continuous. There are no required sprints or roles, and work flows through stages on a board. Its core practices are visualising the workflow, limiting work in progress, managing flow and making policies explicit. It is often better for support, operations or teams with unpredictable incoming work.
Scrum is stronger when the team needs regular cadence, prioritisation and a clear goal. Kanban is stronger when work arrives continuously and cycle time matters more than sprint commitments.
Some teams blend them, using a Scrum cadence with Kanban's work in progress limits and flow metrics.
Candidate Response Strategy & Interview Tips
- Start with a concise one-sentence summary: Deliver a direct, confident answer first before expanding into nuances.
- Demonstrate real-world trade-offs: Discuss where this approach excels and when you would avoid it in production systems.
- Discuss complexity & edge cases: Proactively explain time/space complexity or boundary conditions (null values, scale limits).
- Prepare for interviewer follow-ups: Technical hiring panels frequently probe deeper into concurrency, backward compatibility, or alternative libraries.