Jayaram Hegde Oct 02, 2024

Wonderful read which comprises of Lean, Agile, VSM concepts together in one book . not many books currently talk about or highlight the importance of these concepts so refreshing to see this blend !Highly recommend..

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joeltrane Sep 26, 2024

After reading through The Lean-Agile Way, I was blown away by how comprehensive and pragmatic the authors have made adopting Lean, Agile, and VSM principles. Although, if you are familiar with Gary, Steve, Richard and Al's work, then this should not be much of a surprise, as these gentleman are respected industry veterans.The first part of the book opens with an overview of the common challenges faced by today's business in our contemporary digital landscape. Additionally, you'll receive a brief review of Lean/Agile principles and fundamentals. While these concepts shouldn't be anything new to those that are seasoned practitioners, it is valuable reading for the newly initiated, or those wanting a refresher. This first part of the book wraps up by outlining the ways that Lean and Value Stream Management intersect, demonstrating how these practices help optimize productivity, efficiency, and quality, and accelerate your ability to deliver customer-centric value.Key topics in part one include: Key Elements of Lean Thinking, Three pillars of Lean-Agile, Describing the VSM methodology, Understanding the foundations of business agility, Understanding the Scrum Sprint cycle, Identifying waste and constraints, Mapping a value stream, and Prioritizing value flows.In the second part of the book, readers are offered a comprehensive overview of Value Stream Management, including VSM principles and practical ways to apply them. The authors do a great job of presenting all of the crucial principles of VSM in an easily digestible manner and without watering the concepts down, or overwhelming the reader. For those new to Value Stream Management, this sections is a joy to read and not to be missed. Later on, in part two of the book, the reader will become engrossed with a VSM deep dive. Not only does this section cover a brief history of how VSM has been implemented at organizations in the past, but it also offers a detailed roadmap that can be easily implemented by the reader. Further along in part two, the reader is shown the nuts-and-bolts of Value Stream Optimization. This includes strategies to steer an enterprise away from organizing work around projects and moving towards organizing work around products. Additionally, this section enlightens the reader on ways to orientate their organization around flow, holistically, through a big picture lens. At the conclusion of part two of the book, the reader is shown how to organize various value streams around what is referred to as a value stream network. Essentially, this means ensuring that each value stream is focused on producing individual products of superior quality and that each of them is synergistically connected. The aim of this is to be sure that no waste is accrued and the entire network of discreet value streams are orchestrated intelligently towards delivering customer value.Key topics in part two include: Understanding the taxonomy of value streams, Avoiding the pitfalls of local optimization, Defining the VSM process using the E9 methodology, Exploring reverse value stream mapping, Recognizing when a product or service has reached its EOL, Exploring the VSM Implementation Roadmap, Implementing Value Stream Management, Comparing VSM methodology and the VSM implementation roadmap, Shifting from projects to products, Understanding flow at organizational and individual levels, Identifying obstacles to streamlined workflows, Seeing the organization in terms of flow, Mapping flow, Balancing innovation and efficiency in value streams, Optimizing value streams, Synchronizing core and supportive workflows, Organizing value stream networks, Connecting value streams to customer journeys, Visualizing organizational workflow, Guiding value stream strategy and investments, Evolving a value stream network, Streamlining product and platform value streams.In the third part of the book, the reader is shown two powerful strategies that empower organizations to address the dual challenge of maintaining Lean and Agile practices while effectively delivering value. These two strategies are: Implementing the Basic Lean-Agile Solution Team (BLAST) and Defining a Business Agility System for the Enterprise (BASE). BLAST facilitates the development of point solutions by blending Lean efficiency with Agile adaptability across multiple small teams working in collaboration on a particular problem. It underscores the crucial role of domain experts, working collaboratively across Lean-oriented and Agile-oriented teams in enhancing various processes, products, and systems. On the other hand, BASE organizes, synchronizes, and integrates work across the enterprise to ensure the successful delivery of value-based products and services to external customers. It enables organizations to navigate evolving market demands by aligning investments with strategic goals and establishing a consistent cadence for product and service delivery. In my opinion, part three of this book is a real standout, showing the reader how to make real effectual change in their organization, but in an actionable way. I'm sure that these concepts will be new to many readers and a welcomed addition to their delivery strategies.Key topics in part three include: Implementing Basic Lean-Agile Solutions Teams (BLAST), Categorizing BLAST work activities, Integrating Lean-Agile development concepts, Optimizing Development Cadences and Value Deliveries, Facilitating collaboration at scale – the team-of-teams approach, Embracing Lean-Agile management practices, Defining the virtuous circle for continuous improvement, Understanding the four tenets of the BASE, Eight BASE business processes, Delivering value across the product life cycle, Continuously improving value delivery.In the fourth and final part of the book, the reader is shown how to bring everything together into actionable strategies. Consider this last segment of the book as a practical toolkit for taking theoretical knowledge and turning them into relatable implementation playbook. The focus here is on constructing a versatile business methodology that adapts to the many demands of modern enterprises, including commercial industries, non-profits, and government agencies.Key topics in part four include: Addressing Data challenges and opportunities , Organizing business objectives, Facilitating informed decision-making, Conducting BRIA workshops for strategic alignment, Leveraging AI-based tools to support BRIA workshops, navigating Lean-Agile implementation challenges, Fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement, Building cross-functional teams and encouraging collaboration, Leveraging data and analytics for decision-making, Adopting a change management framework, Addressing labor’s declining share of GDP, Connecting cross-cutting themes and real-world examples , Reviewing real-world case studiesAt 386 pages in length, I think the authors did an incredible job of packing so much information into so little space. What is remarkable about this book is that it makes Lean, Agile, and VSM principles so clear and easy to understand, without diluting their meaning or boring the reader with too much detail. I think that anyone that is new to these concepts will enjoy how the information is presented, making it attainable to the reader. Even experienced enterprise leaders will have a world to gain by understanding the concepts in this book, as I'm sure there are some nuggets that will be fresh to them; there's something for everyone in here. I think the authors of this book provided everything that is needed for the audience to begin transforming their organizations towards adopting superior Lean, Agile, and VSM strategies. However, I do worry that many organizations might not have the discipline or political will to implement them. However, if the leadership at an enterprise does choose to implement these strategies, they have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Amazon Verified review

Peter Sperling Oct 04, 2024

The authors masterfully “pull together” the concepts of Lean, Agile, Value Stream Management, Flow, and Theory of Constraints to provide a comprehensive guide to Product Management in the 21st century.

Amazon Verified review

Spikael Schnefly Oct 29, 2024

I received an advance copy of the book. I have good things to say about it but I haven't had time to write my review. I will though later and replace this with it.

Amazon Verified review

Robert Wen Oct 07, 2024

The past several years has seen a reckoning of any method of work described as Agile in the business world. Scrum masters and Agile coaches have faced layoffs, and their method have come into question as results have fallen far below expectations. This reckoning has exposed many faults including incomplete understanding of how to make work truly happen.Many have advocated for complementing Agile ways of working with Lean Thinking so that the work committed for evaluation by the customer can be done by eliminating waste and understanding the underlying processes and optimizing those processes. This is the key focus of Cecil “Gary” Rupp, Richard Knaster, Steve Pereira, and Al Shalloway in their latest collaborative effort, The Lean-Agile Way: Unleash Business Results in the Digital Era with Value Stream Management.In this book the authors understand that the instruction of Lean Thinking is a journey with many stops along the way. They format this journey by wisely dividing the book in several parts.Part 1 looks at the values and principles of Lean. The authors not only show the basic values and contexts of Lean, but where they can intertwine with Agile thought.The authors move from principle to practice in Part 2 by introducing Value Stream Management, a key tool for identifying and maintaining Flow. They teach methods for identifying the multiple types of value streams that may be present in an organization. Once identified, the authors deftly move to maintain and improving the identified value stream networks.Part 3 now takes what we have learned in Parts 1 and 2 and applies them into a transformation. The authors show the lessons of a Lean-Agile approach by introducing the BLAST (Basic Lean-Agile Solution Teams) framework, an abstracted structure for teams of teams to apply Lean-Agile precepts and utilize Value Stream Management to effectively deliver increments of value to customers.But the authors continue to show how to apply the Lean-Agile approach beyond development toward the enterprise. They showcase this approach in Business Agility System for the Enterprise (BASE) to bring in customer centricity.The authors then conclude by introducing tactics on incrementally steering organizational change in Part 4. They show how to prioritize the improvements, foster the change, and demonstrate its effectiveness through real world case-studies.This book is a comprehensive resource for those looking to move beyond normal Agile practices and frameworks to enable a higher level of performance for teams, programs, products, and eventually enterprises. It guides the reader to using Lean to compliment Agile frameworks such as Scrum for better outcomes that translate to real gains.

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The Lean-Agile Way: Unleash business results in the digital era with value stream management

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