Evaluating the current state of Lean practices
In classic business process analysis techniques, a common practice is to analyze the current way things are done (as-is state), then assess areas for improvement to achieve a desired future state (to-be state), conduct analysis to understand the full scope of work to make the desired changes (gap analysis), and finally create and execute a transition plan. You will find that VSM practices follow a similar pattern. This chapter introduces how to use value stream mapping to assess the current as-is state of our CI/CD activities from a Lean-oriented perspective.
As noted previously in Chapter 4, Defining Value Stream Management, the concept of value stream mapping has been around for a while. However, it is primarily attributed to an analytical approach used at Toyota, referred to as materials and information flow mapping. As the term materials and information flow suggests, value stream mapping provides a graphical technique to simultaneously...