A Value Stream can be defined to be:
“a sequence of activities that delivers on a customer need”
The concept is not a new one but within the IT industry at least, it has been fundamental to the relatively recent shift away from project-oriented business operations to product-oriented. No more so, perhaps, than within the “software as a service” industry.
The concept of “a sequence of activities” is also not new: the idea of formalised business processes has been around since the Industrial Revolution. However, instead of putting processes and outputs at the core of operations, the distinguishing feature here is tying this to meeting customer needs - outcomes and meaningful value. What is new here is structuring the work to be done around meeting customer needs rather than processes to deliver outputs.
The goal is to ensure that the digital workplace delivers value to its owners and users.
For explanations far superior than I can manage on this topic please consult:
(Going by the quality of these two books it is quite likely that “Sense and Respond” by Messrs Gothelf and Seiden would also be very insightful, but I haven’t read it - yet)
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