Re-Read Saturday, Project to Product, Week 10 – Chapter 9: Value Stream Management

Chapter 9 of Project to Product (buy a copy and re-read the book with us https://amzn.to/2WzvPac, Amazon Affiliate Link) ties the three layers of the author’s model together and exposes the third epiphany from his visit to the BMW plant that has been the central plot element of the book. The chapter puts all the parts together, but instead of relating how he connects the infrastructure, I want to focus on how important it is to generate an end-to-end view of work for any software-intensive product. As noted in chapters 7 and 8 the environment of software engineering (broad definition) has evolved as a rat’s nest of tools and models that are rarely connected. The information about what is happening does not flow across any substantial portion of the value stream network. In many highly successful organizations, the flow of information and control of dependencies is managed by PowerPoint and meetings (better than nothing, but not much). Finding a bottleneck in the overall value flow network in this scenario is a matter of luck. This lack of end-to-end vision leads those interested in improving flow to focus on areas that they have visibility into the flow of work, which leads to local optimization. One of the classic questions heard after a “successful” tweak to a flow work is “why does the change have any impact on value delivered to the customer?” Local optimization is rarely effective. To quote my friend Steve Tendon, “you were not addressing the bottleneck” in the value flow network.

Chapter 9 lays out the rationale for why the tools layer needs to be integrated and is measured using a connectivity index. This means defining and mapping the flow of information so that the information about a work item does not get stuck, abandoned, or lost. Connecting all of the tools allows the flow of information and automates the movement of the software product (think end-to-end DevOps).

Tools move and report on artifacts, the next layer of the model. The four flow items discussed over the entire book (features, defects, debt, and risk) are the artifacts that the tools control and move. Linking all of these items together generates traceability which provides visibility. The end-to-end measure used is the traceability index.

The final layer is the value stream network. This layer exposes how each value stream fits into the larger network needed to deliver value. The measure is the alignment index.

Startup organizations (that survive) often have an intuitive understanding of this model and might even develop the tools to keep all three layers aligned, for a time. Larger, legacy organizations have a large number of heterogeneous tools, siloed teams, and departments. Work entry happens at every level of the organization so that it is well nigh impossible to understand flow through a single value stream, let alone the value stream network. UNLESS time, money, people, and political will are deployed to build the model discussed in Chapter 9. On my daily walks, I listen to the water flowing in the storm sewers, during periods of dry weather many of the grates that I listen intently to have water merrily flowing through them. The public works people tell me that it is a reflection of water lines. When the weather changes I have noted that the leaky area almost always is exposed by a waterline or water main break. The water company has not (at least apparently) developed a model that connects the tool layer to their artifact network and finally to their value stream network. The question the water company and every legacy software company need to answer is when does biting the bullet and getting a handle on end-to-end flow make sense before they are a prime candidate for disruption.

Next week is the final chapter, the conclusion, and the week after is the final thoughts and wrap-up. Then we will start Agile Conversations: Transform Your Conversations, Transform Your Culture (https://amzn.to/3EL4Ppe). I have only read part of this book before, but the parts I have are great. I am looking forward to finishing the first pass before we dive in.