In the same way that looking at the value stream helps you observe how value moves, looking at the value stream helps you discover challenges you are facing. Here are some of the most common challenges.
- It takes too long to get anything done
- Work is not properly prioritized
- Chunks of work are too big
- Too many things are in work
- There are unclear requirements
- Teams don’t understand the needs of the business
- Some people have too much to do and are constraints on multiple teams
- There is high technical debt
- There are many integration errors
- There is insufficient collaboration
- Ops is blindsided and pulled in many directions
- There is a lack of visibility of what is taking place
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These challenges are represented in Figure 1.
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Often, these challenges are apparent when work is stuck in large queues just before the step where the problem is. Lean suggests that instead of focusing on how people can work faster, you should take steps to keep queue size down. Usually, this involves working on small batches, how you do work, and how you organize talent.
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This is Al Shalloway. Visit us at www.netobjectives.com.
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