In the Scrum with Kanban Guide , here is the definition of “flow”: “The flow represents the movement of value through the product development system”. The goal is to achieve the most fluid and regular circulation of work through the different stages of the development process, while allowing the optimization of the value flow, that is, the continuous progress, with the least interruptions of tasks or features towards their completion.
The Flow
The value
First and foremost, I think it is important to understand what kind of value we expect, to make the best choices.
In Kanban, value is defined as anything that is perceived as beneficial by the customer or end user of a product or service. Value is therefore determined by the customer’s perspective and is measured in terms of benefits, utility, or satisfaction that they derive from it.
The Value Chain (Value Stream)
The value chain refers to the entire path or sequence of actions required to create and deliver value to a customer. It is the complete journey from the starting point, such as raw material or idea, to the delivery of the final product or service to the customer. The value flow emphasizes the overall vision of the process and the creation of value for the customer.
Value Stream Mapping is a tool for mapping the value chain.
WARNING: we first visualize the value flow as it is, we do not modify it before finishing this first step.
The process (process)
The process represents the specific steps and actions required to transform a raw material, an idea, or a request into a final product or service. It is a sequence of actions defined and organized in a specific order.
Pull system (Pull system)
The pull system in Kanban aims to explicitly limit the amount of work in progress and to produce only what is required by the next step of the process, the work request is triggered by the customer, according to the principle of “Just-in-Time”. The goal is to eliminate overproduction by adjusting the work activity to optimize the flow”.
Value Stream Mapping
A first VSM allows to identify our current value flow, and to map the steps and activities within our process, here is a simplistic VSM in a software application context.
Here is our value flow, now we can start to identify the difficulties encountered along the steps, in order to propose an improvement around our observations.
Each step is necessary to create the value received by the customer, we can notice that it does not only summarize the development although we are talking about application software development. This flow shows that the creation of value is a collective responsibility, and everyone is an actor in the continuous improvement of processes and the maximization of the value delivered to the customer.
Reducing waste, enabling flow: collective objective
The wish is to obtain a value flow as fluid as possible, where activities can follow each other without interruptions, and where problems are quickly identified and solved goes through the improvement of the system of its processes, it is therefore essential that each actor participates in the creation of value and the improvement of the value journey.
We will see in the next chapter that Kanban practices allow the optimization of the flow.
Conclusion
In our exploration of the concept of “Flow” in Scrum With Kanban, several key points are to remember:
Visualizing the workflow is fundamental for its optimization. It allows to increase transparency, accessibility and therefore to better understand how value moves through the system.
The “Flow” is characterized by a fluid movement of value, without interruptions or blockages, which aims to maximize the value delivered to the customer (In Kanban, value is always customer-oriented).
To eliminate waste and achieve optimal flow, process improvement is necessary. Each actor in the process plays a crucial role in this continuous improvement and value creation.
Finally, it is paramount to understand that delivering value to the customer is a collective issue. All team members must work together to maximize the value delivered and optimize the workflow.