Value Stream

An attempt to identify useful Patterns to build a Learning Organization.

Context

A Value Stream Owner has defined a Vision and is now seeking ways for it to create Value, where value is defined as something of worth to some person or set of people whom we wish to serve.

Problem

The creation process and the path from conception to customer are as important to the value validation success as the idea itself.

In simple development, as in agrarian societies, the raw materials were close at hand and could be relayed from vendor (the owner of the grape vines) to the consumer (a hungry traveler).

As production became more advanced, the creation processes became more complex (such as making wine). Unlike the workforce talent required for simple agrarian products, the innovation and wherewithal to support complex endeavors requires teamwork.

Solution

The Value Stream Owner creates an ecosystem whose elements build on each other to deliver ever-increasing value in an evolving value proposition, business model, product, service or process. At the center of this ecosystem is a creation process to deliver ongoing and evolving streams of Potential Value Additions to customers and stakeholders: the Value Stream.

The building blocks include the artifacts (Value Stream Backlog, Potential Valuable Items) and the processes that guide and coordinate the creation of these artifacts (through events and joint work). The Creative Team build the processes that guide the creation of the artifacts, themselves enact them, and are instrumental in evolving them and the Value Stream itself.

References

• Lean Lexicon — Value Stream.
• ScrumPLoP — Value Stream (similar concept, similar text).

Final note: This is a work-in-progress.