Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation

3Understanding the Current State

Gaining a deep understanding of current state value stream performance is a vital step in designing and making improvement. After all, how can you improve work flow if you don’t understand how the work is being performed today? All too often, well-intentioned people rush to “solutions,” resulting in short-term fixes and the risk of making matters even worse. Lacking clarity about the current state or operating with incomplete facts, assumptions, and incorrect information contributes to persistent and recurring problems.

The current state value stream map enables everyone in the organization to see the truth about how the value stream is performing. When the current state value stream map is socialized across the ...