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Recession and Value Stream Management — Is There a Connection?

In Agile Transformation, ConnectALL, Value Stream Management by Andrew Fuqua

At the 2022 agile conference in Nashville on July 18-22, someone asserted that Value Stream Management (VSM) is more important now that we’re in a recession because companies need to redouble their efforts on efficiency. Then the discussion turned to whether or not we are in a recession. I guess that’s what’s on the mind of many, for good reason. But I argued against the whole premise of the statement, both that it’s important because of the recession, and that the goal is efficiency. My position was, and is, that the recession is irrelevant when it comes to value stream …

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What People Don’t Get About Value Stream Management

In Business Value, ConnectALL, Tech Talk, Value Stream, Value Stream Management by Andrew Fuqua

Note: Originally published on TechBeacon There’s nothing wrong with value stream management (VSM) itself, but there’s plenty wrong with how it’s being considered and discussed by bloggers, industry marketing types, and others, who often conflate it with DevOps and Agile. It’s not the same thing. When you read about value stream management, you need to be able to recognize bogus information when you see it. Here are five things obfuscating the truth about VSM—and what you should be focusing on instead. 1. Misattribution, personification, and wishful thinking The first problem relates to the many unsubstantiated claims about the benefits VSM can provide. Beware of statements that …

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Learning to see your value

In Value Stream by Andrew Fuqua

It’s difficult to manage your value streams effectively if you can’t see them, can’t comprehend them, or aren’t aware of them. What helps — value stream mapping, making work visible, implementing the Kanban method, and a value stream manager. In an organization, different people have different views of the value streams, and potentially conflicting improvement objectives, it is important to share one vision of these streams and align on improvement goals. In this post, we will focus on getting a shared understanding of the streams.

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What value stream management isn’t

In ConnectALL, Value Stream by Andrew Fuqua

Originally published on SDTimes.com There are a few definitions of “value stream management” floating around out there. Most seem pretty good, but they are necessarily very broad and maybe vague. That’s because value stream management is a very broad concept. Given the hype around these 3 words, and how it’s often shortened to 2 words, there is a lot of confusion. Maybe it will help if we discuss what value stream management isn’t. So, let’s first look at the way Chris Condo of Forrester described it at the virtual VSM DevCon that took place in July: “A combination of people, process, and technology …

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The Value Stream is Human

In Value Stream by Andrew Fuqua

At the highest level, a value stream can be modeled simply and can be simply viewed, but in reality it is a complex system that generates the value, with each piece moving the value forward.