Agile is not as complicated as people make it out to be. The essence lies in managing continuous process. What the business needs first and foremost is predictability, something more reliable than the promises coming out of the time-money-scope project management bundle.
Value stream mapping is a framing device used to put activities in the context of objectives. Starting at some trigger point, activities are mapped to a sequence of steps leading to an objective where something of value to a customer is realized. When a sequence of similar activities takes place over time, we can use the mental model of a stream to conceptualize a process which produces predictable outcomes.
If there’s one thing you should know about your value streams, it’s if they create more value than they consume. Once you know how to determine operating costs and to ascertain the value of services provided, that won’t be a problem. We’ve discussed the cost side of the equation in the previous post, now let’s focus on valuation.