Back in mid-April of this year, I was talking to Nigel Thurlow about the future of Agile and value streams. We were catching up as he has been assisting a European client and had returned from spending some time overseas.

As a student, I like talking with Nigel. I learn more about Lean, The Toyota Production System (TPS), and other concepts that inform my work in the Agile space. At times, we even agree to disagree!

One of the challenges enterprises face is making their value streams visible. Another way of putting this is “getting from quote to cash.” Hat tip to my sales readers!

If you aren’t familiar with the concept of value streams, I have a couple of references for you to consider (shown below).

Teams and value streams (VS)

VS’s help teams see where work is delayed. Hand-offs waste time and the mapping process make those delays visible.

When teams can see where work is constrained, they can fix the constraint. The result is an increase in workflow.

But workflow increases are a part of the story. Teams must go deeper.

They must explore the contexts that influence their work. This is where The Flow System (TFS) assists.

Linking the philosophy of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and TFS is critical as well.

In future posts, I will cover the triple helix of TFS. Writings on complexity thinking, distributed leadership, and team science will follow!