Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action

Visibility enables observability; observability enables clarity. Observability means to infer the internal state of something by measuring its external characteristics. This depends on visibility, as well as contextual information. The ability to infer something’s internal state is the source for generating clarity, an adequate explanatory model. C

We have deeply ingrained habits of assuming that we should maximize the use of all capacity. But a system is more than the sum of its parts. The root of the challenge lies in how variable the work is. If there is little or no variability in how long a work step takes (as would be the case with purely operational value streams like in manufacturing)

These approaches emerge from two different ways of seeing an organization: the prescriptive approach is based on the view that an organization can be designed and engineered like a machine, while the generative approach is based on the view that an organization is composed of living workers whose behavior necessarily emerges from their own values a

“Control the clock, not obey the clock. Collaborate, not coerce. Commit, not comply. Complete, not continue. Improve, not prove. Connect, not conform.” The mantra from Leadership Is Language

“As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. Those who grasp principles can successfully select their own methods.” Harrington Emerson

Many people study and admire high-performing organizations like Toyota and Amazon but struggle to understand how to catalyze performance across their own organizations. To catalyze and foster that performance, you need a system to enable effective action. You need to focus and align your efforts to a valuable target state, develop shared clarity on

Because of organizational power structures and hierarchies, people are often nervous about expressing their real understanding and ideas. Contributors can be unsure about the value of their input and the consequences of sharing it with the group. Under these circumstances, sharing ideas constitutes a risk, especially when those ideas come from peop

Paula Thrasher laid out a useful framework in her 2020 DevOps Enterprise Summit talk “Interactive Virtual Value Stream Mapping - Visualizing Flow in a Virtual World.” She laid out 5 Rs to identify value streams, starting from a delivered feature or change: choose something recent, real, reach, representative, and road tested.5 •Recent: Something in

For each column, follow these steps: •Step 1: Participants should reflect silently on the column prompt (e.g., benefits, obstacles, or next steps) to generate ideas. For instance, if they are working on the “Benefits” column, participants would start reflecting on what benefits the target outcome will bring to the team and organization. (1 min.) •S