What is Value Stream Mapping?

What is a Value Stream?

It’s the sequence of activities required to design, produce, and deliver a good or service that generates value for the customer.

What is Value Stream Mapping?

It’s an exercise that gives visibility on a complex system of work, creating consensus on the improvements that yield the greatest value to customers and the business, and creates a plan to improve, measuring progress against customer value metrics.

Here are the main stages of the project:

1. Planning

It takes 1 to 3 months depending on scope and team availability. We meet every 1-2 weeks to create and refine the plan. During the planning stage we:

1.1 Create the Charter

• Create a document defining: the scope, timeline, team members, metrics, and goals aligned with company-wide goals.
• Plan the workshop activities.

2. Workshop

The workshop happens during 3 dedicated days. At the end of each day, we conduct briefings about what the team has learned during that day and invite leaders across the organization to share this knowledge.

During the workshop we:

2.1 Understand the Current State

• Create the current state value stream map, a visual storyboard of how work is currently done.
• It includes the main processes and their sequence, who does the work, how long it takes, and the quality of each process.
• This is extremely powerful for achieving a collective understanding and consensus around the main pain points.

2.2 Design the Future State

• Intentionally designing for faster lead times, higher quality, and customer satisfaction.
• Determining the work that should be done.
• Identify, prioritize, and find countermeasures for wasted work.
• Making the work flow without delays and unnecessary effort.

2.3 Develop the Transformation Plan

• Manages the improvement of the value stream.
• Includes the improvement goals.
• Regularly measure and track progress on the countermeasures.
• Timeline for improvement execution.

3. Transformation

During the transformation phase, lasting from 3 to 6 months

• the teams execute the improvements defined during the workshop
• we regularly measure progress towards our goals
• we meet every 2-3 weeks to discuss
  • the improvements
  • progress towards the goals
  • any adjustments needed
  • any help needed to achieve the goals