In this article, I explore Value Stream Management(VSM), how it impacts software testing, and its broader benefits for any organisation implementing software projects.
Note: In this article, I will be looking at Digital value streams rather than business value streams as they apply to the IT function.
Why Should You Care About Value Stream Management?
If you work for a medium or large enterprise, you may have heard of Value Stream Management. If you haven’t, I can almost guarantee that your CIO has. It is probably on his to-do list, and the CEO might be the sponsor.
I must admit, when I first heard about VSM, it didn’t grab me or demand my attention. My actual thoughts were, “Oh, here we go again, another one”. I’ve been in this game for more than 3 decades and have seen many development concepts presented as the solution.
Despite being initially underwhelmed, the more I dug into VSM, the more interested I became.
The main reason for my interest is that VSM codifies common sense practices that I have seen applied at many organisations over the years. As software development has evolved, these practices have become increasingly sensible and useable.
Businesses increasingly realise that IT is a powerhouse for increased sales, reduced costs, and simplified/integrated processes. This has created pressure for IT departments to transform and digitise, which means developing solutions faster and cost-effectively.
This pressure has frequently caused disconnects, delays, quality issues and inefficiencies. Inevitably this has led to each silo of IT looking at how they can make improvements but rarely looking end-to-end at the whole of IT.
DevOps tried but only focused on linking software development and IT Operations. This missed out on the beginning of the journey, the business strategy. DevOps didn’t ensure that the solution stayed targeted and delivered value.
VSM addresses the abovementioned issues by identifying, mapping, and analysing the flow of work through the entire software delivery pipeline – from strategy to live running.
I appreciate that this might sound like management speak, but bear with me. I’ll explain in more detail as we go.
What Are the Benefits of Value Stream Management?
This topic can take a bit of chewing before you can swallow it. With that in mind, let’s start with the benefits – at the very least, it will give you a reason to read on.
VSM offers many benefits for organisations that implement it.
These benefits include:
- Faster time-to-market – By eliminating waste and inefficiencies in the software delivery process, VSM enables organisations to deliver software faster and more efficiently. This can help organisations stay ahead of competitors and capitalise on new opportunities.
- Improved software quality – By integrating testing into every stage of the software delivery process, VSM ensures that businesses can identify and address issues early on, resulting in higher-quality software.
- Enhanced customer satisfaction – By delivering high-quality software faster, VSM helps organisations meet and exceed customer expectations, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Improved collaboration – VSM encourages cross-functional collaboration and communication, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient software delivery process.
- Increased agility – By optimising the software delivery process, VSM enables organisations to respond more quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs.
- Better visibility and control – VSM gives organisations greater visibility and control over the software delivery process, enabling them to make data-driven decisions and continuously improve their operations.
I think we can agree that these are favourable outcomes. So, now that we all want VSM let’s go back to what it is and where it came from.
Where Did VSM Come From?
You might think that VSM is a new-fangled idea to torture the IT professional, create more reports, and add more meetings to your calendar – and you know what, maybe it will add a bit of this (without the torture). However, VSM will also focus the attention of the business on faster delivery with fewer errors.
The common sense principles behind VSM are timeless – the first recorded production line was at the Venetian arsenal in the 1300s. VSM itself is probably 70 to 100+ years old. The details are lost in the murky history of time; sadly, there was no public decree stating the birth of this new approach.
We are fairly sure VSM started in the automotive industry, although where and when are up for debate? Some credit Henry Ford in the 1910s, and others credit Toyota in the 1950s. Either way, this is yet another example of manufacturing informing software delivery.
Check out my related article – Why Every Software Tester Needs to Know About Deming.
What is Value Stream Management?
VSM is a lean management approach that involves mapping and analysing work as it flows through the entire software delivery pipeline. VSM identifies bottlenecks, waste, and inefficiencies in the software delivery process and enhances the overall value delivered to customers.
VSM involves several key steps, including:
- Identifying the value stream – Mapping the entire software delivery pipeline, from the initial idea to production. The value stream includes all the steps involved in the process, including planning, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
- Analysing the value stream – Identifying areas of waste and inefficiency – including bottlenecks, unnecessary steps, and areas where work is not flowing smoothly.
- Making improvements – Implementing changes to the value stream to eliminate waste and improve the flow of work – including streamlining processes, reducing cycle times, and automating tasks.
- Continuously improving – VSM is an ongoing process of continuous improvement. Organisations constantly monitor and analyse their value stream, making changes as necessary to ensure that they deliver high-quality software faster and more efficiently.
VSM optimises the software delivery process to deliver high-quality software faster and more efficiently. Organisations can use VSM to reduce cycle times, improve product quality, and increase customer satisfaction by eliminating waste and inefficiencies in the value stream.
How Does VSM Impact Software Testing?
VSM emphasises the importance of testing throughout the entire software delivery process. VSM integrates testing into every stage, from planning to deployment. Because of this, Agile and DevOps development methods and test automation are well suited to VSM.
By integrating testing into every stage of the software delivery process, VSM ensures that issues are identified and addressed early on. VSM reduces the risk of delays and defects that impact the overall value delivered to customers. Additionally, VSM enables organisations to identify areas of waste and inefficiency in the testing process and make improvements that enhance the general flow of work.
For example, as testers, we know that automation can and will positively impact project delivery, but persuading stakeholders of these benefits can often be virtually impossible. However, the team could map out the entire development process and identify bottlenecks using Value Stream Management.
VSM would likely find that a significant amount of time is spent on manual regression testing, slowing down the overall flow and delaying releases. To address this issue, the team could introduce automated regression testing.
Automation scripts could then be written to cover the most critical parts of the system, with the aim of catching any bugs introduced by new changes. This would free the testers to focus on more complex and exploratory testing tasks and speed up the regression testing phase, as the automated tests could be run overnight or in parallel with other tasks.
The impact of this change could then be tracked through the VSM. The team might find that the time to release decreases, the number of defects caught early in the process increases, and the overall quality of the product improves.
VSM would provide clear evidence of the positive impact of test automation, further encouraging the team to continue optimising their processes – further reducing the risk of delays and quality issues that impact the overall value delivered to customers.
As I mentioned above, there’s nothing fundamentally new here. Rather, VSM codifies the basics and allows you to focus on adopting common sense practices. It can also unify the whole software delivery process as all talk in a common language and use common processes.
Conclusion – Why You Should Care About Value Stream Management
VSM focuses businesses on high-speed, high-quality software delivery.
Value Stream Management is a lean management approach that enables organisations to identify areas of waste and inefficiency and enhance the overall value delivered to customers. It involves identifying, mapping, and analysing the flow of work through the entire software delivery pipeline.
VSM positively impacts software testing by emphasising the importance of testing throughout the entire software delivery process. Because of this, VMS works well with Agile and DevOps methodologies.
VSM reduces the risk of delays and defects and enables organisations to deliver high-quality software faster and more efficiently. Yes, implementing VSM requires time and resources, but the benefits of implementing VSM are well worth the effort.
By optimising the software delivery process, organisations using VSM can:
- Develop software faster.
- Ensure high-quality software.
- Increase efficiency.
- Drive customer satisfaction higher.
So, next time your bump into your CIO, ask them if they are considering Value Stream Management. If yes, you now have something to add to the conversation. If not, it might be worth sharing this article with them.
