What this book covers

Chapter 1, Delivering Customer-Centric Value, defines what constitutes the delivery of value.

Chapter 2, Building on a Lean-Agile Foundation, explains what it means to be a Lean-Agile enterprise.

Chapter 3, Analyzing Complex Systems Interactions, looks at software development activities as a complex system and explains the impact of interrelationships between participating elements.

Chapter 4, Improving IT Value Streams with VSM, explains the history and fundamentals behind value stream management.

Chapter 5, Driving Business Value through a DevOps Pipeline, assesses end-to-end activity and the information flows and integrated toolchains that make DevOps pipelines so complex and expensive to implement on an enterprise scale.

Chapter 6, Launching the VSM Initiative (VSM Steps 1–3), explains why an organization must commit to Lean, how to choose a value stream, and what VSM team members and other stakeholders need to learn about implementing Lean.

Chapter 7, Mapping the Current State (VSM Step 4), explains how to construct a current state value stream map using a CI/CD pipeline flow improvement use case as an example.

Chapter 8, Identifying Lean Metrics (VSM Step 5), explains the common Lean metrics used to identify waste that contributes to poor performance across value streams and those that most apply to assessing IT and DevOps-oriented value streams.

Chapter 9, Mapping the Future State (VSM Step 6), explains how to construct a future state value stream map and Kaizen Burst (production improvement opportunities) using a CI/CD pipeline flow improvement use case as an example.

Chapter 10, Improving the Lean-Agile Value Delivery Cycle (VSM Steps 7 and 8), explains how to develop and execute a Kaizen Plan that addresses the improvement opportunities identified in the future state value stream maps.

Chapter 11, Identifying VSM Tool Types and Capabilities, introduces the three primary types of VSM tools and their general purpose and capabilities.

Chapter 12, Introducing the Leading VSM Tool Vendors, offers descriptions of the capabilities provided by 16 leading VSM tool vendors, along with their individual strengths and areas of focus.

Chapter 13, Introducing the VSM-DevOps Practice Leaders, introduces the VSM Consortium and two of the leading Lean-Agile frameworks that promote VSM – Disciplined Agile and the Scaled Agile Framework®.

Chapter 14, Introducing the Enterprise Lean-VSM Practice Leaders, introduces two of the leading Lean training and certification organizations – the Lean Enterprise Institute and LeanFITT™.

Chapter 15, Defining the Appropriate DevOps Platform Strategy, provides interviews with six expert DevOps practitioners to explain the potential DevOps implementation pitfalls that organizations need to be aware of. This chapter also introduces four DevOps platform implementation strategies and the pros and cons of each.

Chapter 16, Transforming Businesses with VSM and DevOps, explains how to use VSM and DevOps tools and related implementation initiatives to transform businesses into viable entities to compete in our digital economy.