A self-paced foundations course for delivery leads, engineering managers, product owners and DevOps practitioners who want to manage software delivery as value streams. Seven lessons cover what value stream management is, identifying and defining value streams, mapping current and future states, flow metrics, connecting tools and data, improving flow and linking flow to business outcomes. Each lesson ends with an exercise using a real value stream.
What you will learn
- Explain value stream management and why it matters
- Identify and define value streams
- Map current and future states
- Measure flow with standard flow metrics
- Connect delivery tools to produce value stream data
- Run improvement experiments on flow
- Link flow metrics to business outcomes
Lessons
- What Value Stream Management Is
- Identifying and Defining Value Streams
- Mapping Current and Future States
- Flow Metrics
- Connecting Tools and Data
- Improving Flow
- Linking Flow to Business Outcomes
Self-paced course from Tech Skills Library. Educational content only; it is not an accredited qualification, licence or credential.
Lessons
What Value Stream Management Is
Identifying and Defining Value Streams
Before mapping or measuring, define which value streams exist and their boundaries. Types of value stream Operational value streams: deliver products or services to customers, such as processing an order. Development value streams: build and change the systems that support operational streams, such as delivering new features. Defining a value stream Trigger: what starts it. […]
Mapping Current and Future States
Value stream mapping creates a shared picture of how work flows. Preparing Gather people from every step. Collect data where possible: ticket histories, pipeline timings and approval records. Mapping the current state For each step record the activity, who does it, processing time, waiting time before the next step and the percentage of work that […]
Flow Metrics
Flow metrics describe how work moves through a value stream. They provide an objective basis for improvement. Common flow metrics Flow velocity: number of items completed per period. Flow time: elapsed time from start to completion. Flow load: number of items in progress. Flow efficiency: proportion of flow time spent actively working. Flow distribution: proportion […]
Connecting Tools and Data
Value stream data lives in many tools: planning boards, version control, pipelines, incident systems and service desks. Connecting them gives an end-to-end view. Data sources Work tracking: when items are created, started and completed. Version control: commits and merges. CI/CD: builds, tests and deployments. Operations: incidents and changes. Customer feedback and usage analytics. Linking work […]
Improving Flow
Measurement only matters if it leads to improvement. Common improvements Limit work in progress. Reduce batch sizes. Automate testing, deployment and approvals. Remove unnecessary handoffs by forming cross-functional teams. Address the bottleneck first. Reduce rework by improving requirements and quality. Experiments Frame improvements as hypotheses with expected effects on flow metrics, run them for a […]
Linking Flow to Business Outcomes
Faster flow only matters if it delivers business value. Value stream management connects delivery data with outcomes. Outcome measures Revenue, cost, customer satisfaction, retention, adoption and risk reduction. Connecting the two Track whether features delivered actually changed outcomes. Use experiments and analytics to measure the impact. Investment decisions Use value stream data to guide funding: […]