The Art of Lean Software Development

Value Stream Maps

Value stream mapping is a classic Lean analysis tool. If you’ve heard of Lean, chances are you’ve also heard of value stream mapping. It is one of the most powerful Lean tools and can be applied to almost any process.

A VSM is a visual representation of all the steps in a particular process from start to finish (usually from customer request through the resulting delivery to the customer). Attached to each step is data about that step, particularly the touch time (actual work time) and wait time. Each step is also identified as value-added, non-value-added, or non-value-added but necessary.

The VSM makes it easier to spot waste and bottlenecks in the process. Because it shows the entire product flow from end to end, you can also spot problems that originate outside of the core software development activities.

After the VSM has been created, some problems may become apparent. Any non-value-added steps, for example, would be pure waste and should be considered for elimination. Points in the value stream with large wait times or queues of work in progress are red flags that should invite closer scrutiny.

It is very important that the VSM show the process as it is actually carried out; do not bring your written process documents to the VSM exercise because we guarantee that the documented process is not the same as what you are actually doing. This helps make the tacit knowledge of the team explicit, and it can also point to areas where the documented process needs to ...