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How VSM Can Help You Steer Clear of These Six OKR Mistakes

In ConnectALL, OKR, Value Stream Management by Soumya Menon

In 2020, when a majority of the workforce switched to remote working, organizations of all sizes across the globe turned to Objective Key Results (OKR) to figure out how to stay aligned while responding to rapid change in the business environment.  OKRs, as you may know already, are a great way to attain audacious goals. This is because setting OKRs forces individuals, teams, and companies to articulate their goals in a time-bound and measurable fashion. By setting an Objective (a broad mission statement) and several Key Results (shorter, measurable assignments) great strides can be made in a quick and organized …

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Five Core Beliefs About VSM ConnectALL Swears By

In ConnectALL by Soumya Menon

The software industry is overwhelmed and is drowning in thousands of value stream management (VSM) definitions — some are broad and some are vague. In the last couple of years, the market is also flooding with new vendors who claim to provide VSM solutions to drive agility and velocity and accelerate software delivery — some of which are not even complete solutions.  Having worked in the B2B SaaS space and specifically practicing lean methodologies like VSM for over two decades, ConnectALL’s influencers and thought leaders have been advocating the correct understanding and adoption of VSM in the software industry. In …

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Three Simple Strategies to Create Effective OKRs for Software Delivery Value Streams

In OKR, Value Stream Management by Soumya Menon

How did Google grow from 40 employees to 139,995 and over $257 billion in global revenue? Sure, Google’s unique and ubiquitous products and services play a huge role. But they also have a covert yet overt strategy in their back pocket: Objectives and Key Results (OKRs). The OKR methodology was originally conceptualized by the legendary Andy Grove from Intel and Google adopted it in 1999 in its very first year of inception. Subsequently, OKRs spread across Silicon Valley companies. Recognized as a collaborative goal-setting system, today a lot of companies like Spotify, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Airbnb use OKRs. But OKRs …

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Every Truth You Need to Know About Value Stream Management

In ConnectALL, Value Stream Management by Soumya Menon

Every year, the software industry is pumped with 10-15 buzzwords. From Big Data, Distributed Cloud, and Artificial Intelligence to Machine Learning, DevOps and Everything as a Service, we have witnessed some of these buzzwords turning into full blown products and services. However, there are some actual practices that are not buzzwords and have been around for decades. One such is Value Stream Management. For several years, ConnectALL’s thought leaders have been talking about how Value Stream Management (VSM), a lean practice, is not new. In fact, every business is applying this at some level or the other while delivering software …

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3 Burning Answers to What are the Value Stream Metrics that Matter

In ConnectALL, Value Stream Management, Value Stream Metrics by Soumya Menon

Value Stream Metrics: There is no shortage of metrics related to software delivery. From Agile metrics, DevOps, DORA metrics, support, services and operational metrics to lean, value stream, flow metrics, product and predictability metrics, there’s so much hype.  Organizations are not confident in selecting metrics and there’s little acknowledgement that one set of metrics might not be all that an organization needs.  But, where do you start? How do you decide what measurements would help you analyze the health of your value stream and what changes you’d have to make to manage it? In a recent webinar hosted by DevOps.com, …

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Five Truths About Value Stream Management Every Organization on a Digital Transformation Must Know

In ConnectALL, Value Stream Management by Soumya Menon

Value Stream Management is not that complicated if you understand what it is actually solving for your software development and delivery. Like we always say, “it is human”.  ConnectALL President and COO Lance Knight has a heart-to-heart conversation with Ron Pereira, Co-founder and Partner at Gemba Academy about value stream management in software development and delivery. Lance addresses some basic and detailed points about the implementation of the lean practice of value stream management in software development. He also addresses the common myths and misconceptions, and what flow means in manufacturing and software development. Here are five, out of many, …

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5 Things You’ll Love When You’re Mapping Your Value Stream with the Value Stream Designer

In ConnectALL, Value Stream, Value Stream Designer, Value Stream Management by Soumya Menon

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Sure! That’s a cool quote by Bert Lance. But how do you know if something is broken or not if you can’t see it? Story of everyone’s life in software delivery! But that changes from here on out! You will now be able to see everything crystal clear in your value stream online. The first complimentary Value Stream diagramming tool from a value stream management company is now publicly available. You can go back to the drawing board and diagram your value streams to get complete visibility. Before we delve into all the …

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Why You Must Make SAP Solution Manager the Cockpit for Your Software Delivery Aircraft

In Product Updates, Value Stream, Value Stream Management by Soumya Menon

Did you know that most companies that use SAP Solution Manager don’t realize its full potential?  If you are using non-SAP applications in your software development ecosystem and have SAP Solution Manager in the mix, it is time you take control of your value stream. And you may ask how and why? SAP Solution Manager is a single application that can work as a cockpit with complete central control of your software development and delivery value stream. It has the capability to manage SAP related features and non-SAP technologies in a single platform.  For companies that use SAP Solution Manager …