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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Karen Martin
Read between
February 17 - February 19, 2022
In most organizations, no one person can describe the complete series of events required to transform a customer request into a good or service—at least not with any level of detail around organizational performance.
A value stream is the sequence of activities an organization undertakes to deliver on a customer request. More broadly, a value stream is the sequence of activities required to design, produce, and deliver a good or service to a customer, and it includes the dual flows of information and material.
Value stream maps offer a holistic view of how work flows through entire systems,
First, value stream maps provide an effective means to establish a strategic direction for making improvement.
Second, value stream maps provide a highly visual, full-cycle view—a storyboard—of how work progresses from a request of some sort to fulfilling that request.
visually depicting the cycle of work typically includes three components: information flow, work flow, and a summary timeline.
Third, the process of value stream mapping deepens organizational understanding about the work systems that deliver value and support the delivery of value to customers,
Fourth, the quantitative nature of value stream maps provides the foundation for data-driven, strategic decision making.
Last, value stream maps reflect work flow as a customer experiences it versus the internal focus of typical process-level maps.
The ability to visualize non-visible work is an essential first step in gaining clarity about and consensus around how work gets done.
Value stream maps provide a clear line of sight to the external customer from every function and work area involved in the value stream.
Value stream mapping also presents a pragmatic way to realize key components of systems thinking,
When organizations see the interconnectedness of various departments and processes, they make better decisions, work together in more collaborative ways, and avoid the common and costly trap of suboptimization.
Value stream maps also provide unbiased, fact-based insight into how processes should be managed to achieve and sustain high levels of performance.
Value stream maps are powerful tools for visualizing and simplifying how work gets done at a macro level in order to make better and faster strategic improvement decisions.
Deming is commonly reported to have said, “If you can’t describe what you are doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
value stream maps are highly iterative tools that need to be frequently consulted and updated as the value stream changes.
Value stream maps also serve as a simple visual means to orient new hires during the onboarding process. Helping people understand where they fit in an organization fills a fundamental need all human beings have for connection and begins instilling holistic thinking from an employee’s first day of work.
Effective planning is a significant contributor in elevating value stream mapping from a “tool” to a management practice that produces long-lasting transformational. Planning ranges from preparing the organization for the paradigm-challenging aspects of value stream mapping to scoping, team formation, and planning the logistics of who, what, when, and where.
As noted in Figure 2.1, we recommend that you begin planning for the mapping approximately at least four weeks prior to the mapping activity itself. That will allow you ample time to develop a charter (described in a later section), build leadership support, form a proper team, collect relevant data, and prepare your organization for the process of value stream transformation.
The more people begin to view work holistically (how they connect with the customer and how their work is interconnected to everyone else’s), the more engaged everyone will become in understanding the customer and the business, the better decisions will be, and the less you’ll experience resistance to change.
The charter serves a fourfold purpose: planning, communicating, aligning, and building consensus.
Scope This section defines the parameters of the mapping activity.
Value Stream Here, you describe the value stream to be mapped,
specific set of conditions that you’re including or excluding in the mapping activity—at least for the current state portion.
teams often find that the future state design applies to 75 percent or more of the variation in the value stream. Value stream mapping often demonstrates that, at a macro level, there isn’t as much variation as it “feels” like there is.
Demand Rate This is the volume of incoming work per day, week, month, or year.
It’s also critical that you know the degree to which there’s variation in demand:
Trigger This is the thought or action that initiates work flowing through the value stream.
First Step, Last Step We refer to the first step and last step as the “fence posts” between which the team will focus its attention.
Boundaries and Limitations This section houses the boundaries and limitations the team needs to operate within, if any. Here you want to include decisions and actions that the team is not authorized to take.
Examples we’ve encountered include not allowing complex IT modifications due to imminent software upgrades; a stated cap on spending; no staffing increases; and no changes to corporate policies that the organization isn’t prepared to address within the value stream improvement window
Improvement Time Frame This is the defined time frame for executing improvements to realize the future state design.
Part of the value of a well-crafted and well-socialized charter is the alignment you can achieve up, down, and across an organization about the problems the organization faces and why improvement is needed.
how aggressively you plan to improve.
include not only the raw numbers for the current and future state (from X to Y), but also the percentage of improvement that they represent.
listing two to five direct and collateral (indirect) benefits of value stream improvement to both the organization and its customers is another way to pave the way for reduced resistance to change, accelerate execution of improvements, and deepen “big picture” understanding
For the greatest success with value stream improvement, you need designated people serving in defined roles with clear responsibilities.
At a minimum, the executive sponsor should be actively engaged in the development of the charter, address the team during the kickoff, attend the briefings, and monitor progress on the transformation plan.
the value stream champion is someone who’s accountable for performance of the entire value stream and, in a hierarchical organization, is a step or two closer to the work than the executive sponsor.
facilitator serves varied roles that range from teacher to timekeeper and from skilled change agent to provocateur. Strong facilitators are also comfortable with conflict, possess strong listening skills, and are equally proficient at leading a team through the discovery, design, and planning phases of the mapping activity. They understand organizational dynamics and the psychology of change and are skilled at challenging paradigms in a respectful and supportive way. A good facilitator can also maneuver effectively in various environments, and has the ability to connect quickly and communicate
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the dates and times for the mapping activity, the location of the “base camp” from which the mapping team will operate when they’re not walking the value stream
Generally speaking, the smaller the team, the more effective the results—as long as all functions in the value stream are represented. Five to seven participants, representing all the functions that play a significant role in the process, are best.
The team should be heavily biased with leadership (typically managers and above) who can influence and authorize the type of future state improvements that will be needed to truly transform the value stream.
On-call support is reserved for those parties who either play a very minor role in the value stream or provide indirect support to one or more areas in the value stream.
Charter socialization is an important step in shaping the transformation. It lays the groundwork for successful execution of improvements and reduces the risk of obstacles that may otherwise arise months after the actual mapping activity.
One piece of data that we, as facilitators, consistently ask for up front is current and forecasted customer demand (incoming work volume or number of requests) for the next one to two years so that the future state design accommodates increased growth or shrinkage.
Gaining a deep understanding of current state value stream performance is a vital step in designing and making improvement. After all, how can you improve work flow if you don’t understand how the work is being performed today?
The current state value stream map is a visual storyboard that shows how the work currently gets done. It represents how work flows, who does the work, and how the value stream is performing on the day the map is created.
kick off the event with team introductions, even if the team members all know one another. Identifying each of their roles in the value stream begins to highlight the interconnected nature of the work and the process of shifting mindsets from siloed thinking to holistic thinking. You may also include a suggestion that, as team members are introducing themselves and the functions they represent, they specify who their external or internal suppliers and customers are,
