This document discusses how visualizing workflow helped a company change the way they work to move faster. It summarizes that initially they realized they were creating too much unnecessary work. Visualizing their flow revealed they could not keep running faster without changes. Using value stream mapping showed they needed to change processes. These insights helped them finally start moving faster.

1. Are we really moving
faster?
How visualizing flow changed the way we work
Roman Pickl
@rompic

2. A fundamental question: Are we really moving faster?
Delivering value
Problem
long dev cycles, high workloads,
changing priorities, decreasing
morale
Impediments
deployment pipeline, automation,
new technologies
Investments
delivery icon designed by Gem Designs (Creative Commons CCBY): https://thenounproject.com/term/delivery/3581418
cycle icon designed by Arthur Shlain, RU (Creative Commons CCBY): https://thenounproject.com/term/cycle/204142
Deployment Pipeline icon designed by Richard Slater (Creative Commons CCBY): https://thenounproject.com/term/deployment-pipeline/1123518

3. Fast physical feedback & visibility of problems
“Red Bear Alert! - The Hudson Bear Lamps https://wiki.jenkins.io/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=20250625

4. First dashboard: Status
https://github.com/rompic/Smashing-Flowboard
https://smashing.github.io/

5. We are creating
too much
inventory

6. Epiphany I: We are creating too much inventory

7. https://twitter.com/jezhumble/status/1306294898727870464

8. Product delivery
DORA - Accelerate: State of DevOps 2019: Elite performance, productivity, and scaling

9. Product Design and Development:
Flow Metrics:
■ Flow Load: Number of flow items being actively worked on in
a value stream, denoting the amount of WIP (work in progress).
■ Flow Time: Duration that it takes for a flow item to go from
being accepted for work into the value stream to completion,
including both active and wait time.
■ Flow Efficiency: The proportion of time flow times are
actively worked on to the total time elapsed.
■ Flow Velocity: number of flow items done in a given time.
Also referred to as throughput.
■ Flow Distribution: Mutually Exclusive and Comprehensively
Exhaustive allocation of flow items in a particular flow state
across a measure of time.
https://flowframework.org/

10. https://github.com/rompic/Smashing-Flowboard

11. "My dear, here we must run as fast
as we can, just to stay in place. And
if you wish to go anywhere you
must run twice as fast as that."
Lewis Carroll,
Through the Looking-
Glass, and What Alice
Found There

12. We will never be
able to run fast
enough

13. Epiphany II: We will never be able to run fast enough
Klaus Leopold Why Agile Teams Have Nothing To Do With Business Agility
John Smart https://medium.com/sooner-safer-happier/agility-build-the-right-thing-69d316aeb56b

14. Value Stream Mapping
Drawn by Eric Wünsche

15. (non) value adding activities
Drawn by Eric Wünsche

16. We need to
change the way
we work

17. https://cloud.google.com/solutions/devops/devops-process-work-visibility-in-value-stream

18. Alignment with PACE Priorization
For each improvement idea:
●
What is the estimated effort?
●
What is the anticipated benefit?
Karen Martin, Mike Osterling: Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for
Organizational Transformation

19. Mainly
patches
Mainly tickets from
feature releases
Are we really moving faster? (Feb 2021)

20. Yes, finally we are. (June 2021)

21. Summary
■ Making work visible: We were creating too much inventory
■ Visualizing flow: We will never be able to run fast enough
■ Value Stream Mapping: We needed to change the way we work
■ Made us move faster

22. Read if you want to know more

23. TLDR; Just give me the code!
You can find the code of the dashboards that I developed here:
https://github.com/rompic/Smashing-Flowboard
Find blog posts with some more details here:
https://pickl.eu/blog/
Leading tools:
https://www.vsmconsortium.org/

24. "Thanks!"
Roman Pickl
@rompic
https://pickl.eu