Quick Learn: Value Stream Primer
Organising for Fast End-to-End Flow
Value streams exist to enable the fast flow of value within your organisation. There is a focus on value consumers and producers and a continual optimisation of the flow of value between them.
A shared vocabulary provides a strong base for necessary organisational shifts to start to take place. This primer offers a reference model for your use.
Value Stream: Long-lived value consumers, producers, and products. The value stream includes all the elements end to end, from concept to cash, from need identified to need met. This includes people, processes, data and technology.
Shared Service Value Stream: Long-lived multidisciplinary teams that produce one or more long-lived internal products that are of value to internal customers.
Product: The thing of value produced by the Value Stream. A product has value to one or more customers, either external or internal.
Capabilities: Exist to advance the state of the craft and provide career paths; to share innovation of practices, learning, and understanding; determine principles and standards; and to clear impediments and provide assistance in a servant leadership capacity. Role-based.
Enablement Team: A team that provides long-term coordination, support and leadership around improving a given domain across the organisation, e.g. Safety, Data, Ways of Working.
Communities of Practice (CoPs): A community brought together around a set of problems, or an interest in a topic. The community aims to build energy and commitment to change at all levels of the organisation through impactful communications and events relating to the interest or topic.
Value Realisation Office (VRO): A modernised version of the Project Management Office (PMO) to maintain a focus on value through coaching, training and measurement. Including the data model for outcomes, and connecting strategy to execution, golden thread metric, and quarterly business review cycles. There is an overall goal of enabling the organisation to optimise for fast flow of value.
Governance: The framework for enterprise decision-making, balancing commercial ambitions and safety/compliance constraints. Provided by a connected leadership of Value Outcome Leadership / Team Outcome Leadership / Architecture Outcome Leadership at every level, supported by the VRO and relevant Enabler Teams (e.g. security)
Flow: The flow of value, end-to-end, from concept to cash, from a need identified to need met. Optimizing for the shortest time with the least effort, in order to maximize desired outcomes.
Accountable Leadership Roles (not HR positions):
Value Outcome Lead (VOL)
Accountable for delivering business and customer value/OKRs at multiple levels of detail.
Team Outcome Lead (TOL)
Accountable for leading the delivery teams and optimising for resilience, flow, safety and engagement.
Architecture Outcome Lead (AOL)
Accountable for technical excellence as it is being imagined and implemented.
Further Learning resources:
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