Value Stream Workshop

Foundations

Value Stream

The sequence of steps an organization uses to deliver value to a customer, from trigger to outcome.

Organizing Around Value

Structuring the organization around value streams rather than functional silos to improve flow and outcomes.

Why Value Streams

Seeing and improving the end-to-end flow of value reveals delays and waste that org charts hide.

Flow

The smooth, uninterrupted movement of value through the stream from idea to delivery.

Types

Operational Value Stream (OVS)

The steps and people that deliver value to customers directly, such as processing an order or claim.

Development Value Stream (DVS)

The activities used to build the solutions that operational value streams rely on.

OVS vs. DVS

Operational streams run the business; development streams build and improve the systems that enable them.

Solutions

The products and systems a development value stream creates to support operational value streams.

Identification

Value Stream Identification

A workshop to discover the operational and development value streams in a business domain.

Identifying Operational Value Streams

Mapping how the business delivers value to customers to find the operational streams.

Identifying Development Value Streams

Determining the systems and the people who build them that support each operational stream.

Triggers and Outcomes

Defining the start (trigger) and end (value delivered) that bound a value stream.

Mapping

Current-State Map

A map of how the value stream works today, including steps, handoffs, and wait times.

Future-State Map

A redesigned value stream that removes waste and improves flow, serving as the improvement target.

Lead Time and Process Time

Total elapsed time versus active work time, used to quantify flow and waste.

Percent Complete & Accurate

How often work passed downstream is usable without rework, revealing quality problems.

Analysis

Bottlenecks

The constraints that most limit flow; improving them yields the greatest gain.

Handoffs and Delays

Transfers and waits between steps that add lead time and risk; targets for improvement.

Waste

Activities that add no customer value, which the workshop helps identify and eliminate.

Designing ARTs

From Value Streams to ARTs

Using development value streams to design Agile Release Trains organized around the flow of value.

Sizing and Structuring

Forming trains and teams around value streams to minimize dependencies and handoffs.

Applying It

Improvement Roadmap

Turning future-state maps into a prioritized plan of improvements to implement.