Case: Ambitious Software Delivery Team

Let's look at the example of a team aiming to boost their performance:

Mapping connects all the perspectives involved in improvement and brings them together
Mapping connects all the perspectives involved in improvement and brings them together

Starting from: “We want to deliver software twice as fast without sacrificing quality” we first map that outcome to reveal top contributing factors.

The Outcome Map connects goals to causal factors
The Outcome Map connects goals to causal factors

We created an outcome map to clarify a team understanding of the goal, why it's valuable, what obstacles could impact success, key investigations to improve odds of success, and indicators that will reveal progress. The team discovered that out of 8 members, everyone had a different idea of what would contribute to the outcome.

The Value Stream Map connects flow to constraints
The Value Stream Map connects flow to constraints

Next we mapped the value stream to reveal the visual flow and collect data on how the work is performing currently, and how it could be improved. We revealed handoffs, delays, tool challenges, meeting impacts and more. The team discovered that 30% of the current process was waste that could be eliminated within the next 3 days. Their target state map was less than 1/3 the time of the current state.

The Dependency Map connects constraints to dependencies (and their capabilties)
The Dependency Map connects constraints to dependencies (and their capabilties)

We then mapped out dependencies beyond the team and value stream in question to highlight external factors affecting our desired outcome. Approvals, cross-team meetings, SLAs, and shared services interactions were all clearly revealed as measurable impacts on the team. As one example, the team revealed that there was a 3 business day SLA with shared services that affected the team almost every single sprint.

The Capability Map connects dependencies to capabilities
The Capability Map connects dependencies to capabilities

Finally, we mapped out team capabilities to see what internal factors could affect our progress to the outcome. The team could see how their key capabilities and gaps were affected by available resources and support, as well as ownership and cognitive load. Along with other insights, the team identified ownership gaps and missing backup roles that were needed to support automated testing.

The Flow Roadmap connects learning to action
The Flow Roadmap connects learning to action

All of this clarity and data fed into prioritization and a clear roadmap defining next steps. The team set off working with awareness, confidence, and alignment. With a few weeks of effort, the team was operating far beyond their target outcome and on to bigger and better things.