In a past podcast, I asked Jim Luckman to discuss applying the Lean tool of Value stream Mapping to the Agile Methodology.
Transcript with Podcast Link: Value Stream Mapping with Jim Luckman
Jim: The Agile methodology with the sprints and the visual management that’s attached to that is very appropriate for doing this type of work. It is a visual management system that allows everybody to see the whole picture and understand what each person is doing as they’re executing inside an agile project. It’s actually the same kind of methodology that we are promoting in terms of these Value Stream Mapping projects.
Joe: We talked about this yesterday is that Agile has grown out of Lean. Or the Lean software development has taken it and called it something of their own, which is Agile, and then of course Scrum, XP, and Kanban has grown out of that. But, there are a lot of similarities there. What’s the difference do you think between the Lean software development and the more traditional Lean practices?
Jim: Let me back up with the Value Stream Mapping. I mentioned two Value Stream Mapping approaches. One was oriented toward material flow in manufacturing, and the second one was information flow in the offices. Now, in both of those cases, generally speaking, they are transactional processes. In other words, you do something, and then you hand it off, and you do something else to either that material flow or that information. We’re calling those “transactional value streams.”
There’s another type of value stream that I call a “creative heuristic value stream.” This is one where you have to do something and get an answer to something before you can go on to that next step. So, you’re seeking answers to questions, and that is what software development is all about. It’s what I’m calling a “knowledge growth value stream.”
So, instead of just passing information from one step to the next, you have to do something to find an answer to the question. Then that gives you guidance on what the next step would be.
So, software development fits into the category of a knowledge-based value stream, and that requires having cycles of learning. I call them “fast cycles of learning” which is the way to quickly development software on a timeline that is a whole lot faster than normal. That’s where it all comes together is the principle of Agile is basically one of exactly the same thing I described, which is a knowledge-based value stream.
Joe: It sounds like when they got involved in the Agile, as much as that’s supposed to be about customer needs or receptive, they can become reclusive within their team.
Jim: That’s correct, and I would say that there is another element of taking this Lean approach and Value Stream Mapping approach that tends to not be seen in the agile approach. It’s one of getting the people who are doing the work engaged in being able to see their work and make continuous improvement to it. So, what I’m suggesting is that even though inside Agile there are methodologies for trying to do continuous improvement, my observation is that it appears in some companies to be too prescriptive. It doesn’t really open up creativity amongst the players to the extent you’d like so that they can continuously evaluate their performance of the value stream and make improvements to it.
Transcript with Podcast Link: Value Stream Mapping with Jim Luckman
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