What is a value stream mapping workshop?

A value stream mapping workshop is about getting key members of the team who actively work in the value stream, along with key leaders and managers in the value stream, to identify where the demand enters the value stream all the way through to when the product or feature is delivered to a customer.

In essence, we are mapping the entire value stream or customer journey.

Identifying the steps, processes, and systems in the value stream

The purpose of the value stream mapping workshop is to identify and map each step, from the moment of demand for a product or service, to the delivery of that product or service.

We are looking to identify delays between steps, dependencies that create problems and delays, and hand-offs that may prove problematic.

We are documenting what happens when one item of work is handed over from one person or department to another.

• Why is there a hand-off?
• What currently happens during and after the hand-off?
• How do we know whether an item is ready to be handed over?
• How fit for purpose is the item for the next step in the customer journey?
• What happens with the item once the handover is complete?

And so forth.

Example of hand-offs

Imagine being in a pizza parlour and within the kitchen, there is a team member who specializes in creating the pizza base. We identify that the pizza base needs to move from the base manufacturer to the person who is responsible for placing the toppings on the pizza base.

• How do we know whether the pizza base is ready to receive toppings?
• What happens if the sauce or toppings flow through the base and the base needs to be returned to the pizza base manufacturer?
• Who decides whether the pizza base is ready for the toppings?
• How long does that handover process take?
• What are the current delays, and why do they exist?
• What would be an opportunity to improve the process?

So, we are exploring quality control elements in addition to mapping out the path to delivery.

Does a value stream mapping workshop help articulate a better ‘definition of done’?

Yes, it can, but it is context dependent.

It can serve as a great ‘definition of done’ because you have a solid understanding of the end-to-end flow of value throughout the organization. We know what a solid ‘definition of done’ is at each stage of the customer journey and we know the standard required for work to be accepted at each hand-off.

Sometimes, individuals and teams focus exclusively on the work that they are doing. They don’t see the big picture, nor do they know how to optimize for the whole system rather than the local element they occupy.

The value stream mapping workshop provides individuals, teams, and leadership teams with a holistic view of the value stream and empowers them to make decisions that optimize for the whole system and customer experience.

The work is only considered ‘completed’ once it exits the value stream and into the hands of the end-user or customer, so we have a complete picture of how value flows throughout each team, each department, and the whole organization.

The holistic view allows us to articulate what ‘done’ actually means.

• Is it exclusively about design?
• Is it exclusively about development?
• Does it include testing?
• Does it include after-sales service and customer post-purchase experience?

There are no hard and fast rules, it is about whatever the value stream team identify as the most valuable definition of done.

Timeboxing for sprints

If you do work with an agile framework like scrum or LeSS, the value stream mapping workshop also helps you identify the quality of work necessary to be handed over, and what constitutes a reasonable time frame for that to happen.

The value stream mapping workshop may help identify efficiency gains that may be valuable, or it may identify effectiveness goals that require additional time to achieve.

Because the people who work on the product are collaborating with leadership teams in the workshop, rapid decisions can be made about removing unnecessary processes that cause delays or extended periods of time can be granted because effectiveness and quality control are more important than speed.

The team may even decide to change the duration of a sprint from 2 weeks to 4 weeks based on what the value stream mapping workshop reveals.

Summary of Value Stream Mapping Workshop

The value stream mapping workshop reveals potential threats and opportunities in the value stream. It makes bottlenecks visible and identifies opportunities for improvement. If we have the right team in the room and the most agile leaders available, we can facilitate rapid decision-making and remove impediments and bottlenecks that cause frustration in the team.

In some cases, significant efficiency and effectiveness gains can be made through relatively simple decisions, such as avoiding committees for approval or deciding to push decision-making authority down to the team for frequent or common elements that don’t require executive approval.

About Value Glide

Value Glide are a SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) consultancy, coaching practice, and training specialist who work with organizations to align business objectives with customer needs and wants.

As deeply experienced agile coaches and practitioners, our team are invested in continuous learning through each client engagement and use the data and evidence we gather from each implementation to inform our training, coaching, and consulting services.

In a nutshell, empirical process control or empiricism.

If you are thinking of adopting agile within your organization and have identified SAFe as a great agile framework to adopt, implement and improve your business agility, visit our SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program page or view our SAFe Consulting Services page.

If you have identified a need for an agile coach and SAFe coach to help your organization adopt and implement SAFe, visit our SAFe Coaching Services page.

If you want to know more about SAFe and how to lead SAFe, visit our SAFE Training page for a host of options, from Leading SAFe to a SAFe Release Train Engineer course.

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