Attending to the Value Stream

Doing the right thing doesn’t guarantee success but doing the wrong thing will guarantee failure. We need to ensure that we are doing the right thing; sometimes, what was planned and tried may not work. Occasionally, consultants may need to improve a portion of a system and even break down another part of the system, if needed. To effectively do this, the constraints of the system need to be understood. Making improvements in the unconstrained areas may not necessarily lead to an improved system. Hence, it is wise to first identify the constrained areas and deal with them to avoid wastes and delays. This will help unravel where we could best use our time.

Doing the right thing doesn’t guarantee success but doing the wrong thing will guarantee failure.

Improvement opportunities occur after the factors impacting a value stream have been discovered and dealt with. This does not only lead to system improvement but also enhance learning opportunities. One way to bring about the needed efficiency is by creating ‘Minimum Business Increments (MBIs)’. MBIs ensure that value is delivered as soon as practicable. So, the emphasis is not on the smallest possible deliverable; it is rather on the soonest deliverable possible. MBI makes efficiency achievable and learning possible.

Value Stream Impedance

During the electrical systems class at the university, I learnt that impedance is a measure of the total opposition of an electric circuit to current. In the same vein, Value Stream Impedance (VSI) impedes the flow of work in a value stream. In an average value stream, the delays and wastes experienced are caused by value stream impedance. These delays undoubtedly create setbacks for value realisation in not only the components of a system but also the end-to-end system. When resistance to value identification, value creation and value realisation in a system is to be assessed, consider looking at the value stream impedance of such a system.

In the same vein, Value Stream Impedance (VSI) impedes the flow of work in a value stream.

There are many examples of impedance in everyday workload; consider a situation when the scope of work is too big, leading to numerous ongoing tasks, context switching and unmanaged technical debt. That is value stream impedance in action. So, when you experience a bottleneck. Look no further; it is value stream impedance.