Bringing Value Stream Mapping to the DevOps culture

‘Value’ is a strong word for organizations today. Over the years, organizations have looked at ways to improve processes and bring value to their customers. Focusing on the proper techniques, cutting waste, and reducing process cycle times were some of the basic things we all did to bring value. Toyota production systems came up with Value Stream Mapping (VSM) in the 90’s with the same purpose. This was a big revolution for the manufacturing sector back then. They would halt production immediately during an automated process whenever they encountered an error. Only the necessary actions would be carried out at each process step. This would let them keep up their quality and speed in manufacturing automobiles.

Businesses fail to perform to their optimum level because they cannot identify the areas of improvement or objectively measure what is most important to them. The software industry, in particular, faces a lot of demand and competition to deliver products within less time. This keeps companies on their toes and makes them hunt for better ways to boost their performance. Adopting a value stream map (VSM) allows organizations to add value by optimizing processes, reducing waste, and pushing out products much faster.

Businesses fail to perform to their optimum level because they cannot identify the areas of improvement or objectively measure what is most important to them. The software industry, in particular, faces a lot of demand and competition to deliver products within less time. This keeps companies on their toes and makes them hunt for better ways to boost their performance. Adopting a value stream map (VSM) allows organizations to add value by optimizing processes, reducing waste, and pushing out products much faster.

What is a Value Stream Map (VSM)?

A value stream map or value stream mapping is a technique where organizations create a visual guide of all the steps necessary to deliver a product. VSM gained popularity in the 90’s in manufacturing units. However, with the need for quality software at a faster speed, it was also adopted by the software industry. Organizations use this map to analyze each step to find ways to improve the whole process by eliminating wastage of time and information flow.

VSM in software

Software development is not too different from manufacturing processes. Here also, there are various tools, platforms, flow of information, and personnel like developers, architects, and testers working on the software. When you create a value stream, you know which person maps which specialty, and accordingly, you can optimize the time and information flow. As software development needs to be free from bugs and vulnerabilities, finding the right approach and development steps with the help of VSM becomes more essential for adoption… read more