Leading with Value

Technology organizations today face immense challenges in delivering value efficiently and effectively. Increasing competition, rapid change, and overwhelming complexity make it difficult for even the most talented teams to execute at a high level. At the core of these struggles lies a critical issue: a lack of focus on value.

In our new book Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action, we explore how organizations can overcome chronic performance challenges by focusing on three key dimensions: value, clarity, and flow.

Understanding value is the critical starting point. Without an initial grasp of value, clarity is impossible. Imagine your home junk drawer, full of elastic bands, single tools, half-finished packs of gum, and orphaned IKEA fasteners. If you go into the drawer without a goal or some sense of what you’re looking for, you’re immediately lost in everything you see and distracted by whatever catches your eye. Without a clear understanding of goals, challenges, the current state, and effective improvement strategies, teams will struggle in vain to drive meaningful progress.

The High Cost of Ambiguity 

When workers encounter roadblocks, the culprit is frequently a lack of value alignment. Developers staring blankly at a puzzling line of code or fiddling aimlessly with potential fixes exemplify the huge inefficiencies that stem from ambiguity. Even the most skilled professionals flounder in the absence of clear direction and understanding of value.

Such time-wasting struggles are common because overworked teams often push ahead even when tired and stuck, rather than pausing to gain a fresh perspective. And if minor tasks suffer from poor value alignment, imagine the mistakes and missteps that arise in large-scale decisions made under similar circumstances.

Many organizations can afford such inefficiencies for now, because the potential of technology is so great. Developing software offers incredible leverage to create value from nothing more than thought. However, as digital acceleration continues, the companies that thrive will be those that enable their talent to maximize productivity and performance. Providing a clear focus on value is the key to unlocking that potential.

The Path to Value Alignment 

If a lack of value focus is the problem, what’s the solution? Flow Engineering provides a set of methods and strategies to cut through the fog:

• Visibility: Map out your technology landscape and workstreams to give everyone a clear view of the current state, priorities, and performance in terms of value.
• Alignment: Ensure teams have a shared understanding of goals, challenges, and their individual roles in the mission. Open communication is critical for value alignment.
• Refinement: Break initiatives down into well-defined chunks with clear scope, boundaries, timelines, and ownership. Precision reduces complexity and enhances value delivery.
• Constraints: Establish the right guardrails and guidelines to keep work on track. Distinguish between restrictive ‘governing constraints’ and ‘enabling constraints’ that help teams succeed in delivering value.
• Iteration: Acknowledge that perfect value delivery is a journey, not a destination.

Continuous improvement processes are essential to maintain alignment as circumstances change. Gaining a focus on value is not a one-time effort. It requires ongoing attention and active maintenance. Organizations that commit to this path can eliminate wasted effort, maximize productivity, and accelerate innovation. The investment is well worth the rewards.

Connecting Value to Outcomes 

Of course, value alone is not the goal. To achieve great outcomes, organizations must direct their efforts toward real value creation. And this requires getting clear on what value means for both internal and external customers. In effective organizations, everyone understands who their “customers” are and what those stakeholders find valuable. This allows contributors at all levels to make smart decisions about priorities and execution in their local context.

However, organizations must define and incentivize value correctly. When sales teams are rewarded purely on deals closed, customer success can suffer. Real quality may decline when developers aim for test coverage metrics over effective risk reduction. Alignment between objectives, incentives, and true customer value is paramount.

Enabling Clarity Through Value Focus 

The ultimate aim of all this is to enable flow: the smooth, efficient, and effective delivery of value to customers. A clear focus on value removes friction and obstacles so that value can flow rapidly from ideation to satisfied end users. With clear visibility, direction, and priorities, teams can swarm to deliver what matters most. With precise scope and boundaries, wasteful work and distractions fall away. With the right guardrails, quality and consistency emerge naturally. And with iterative improvement, organizations grow more adept at change and adaptation over time.

As a technology leader, enabling a focus on value is one of the highest-leverage investments you can make in your organization. It allows you to get more from the talent and assets you already have, and to accelerate progress toward your most important goals. The world of technology may grow ever more complex and competitive, but equipped with a focus on value, your teams can achieve outstanding performance. By mapping your landscape, aligning your people, and enabling real flow, you can not only survive but thrive on the journey ahead.

To learn more about applying these principles in your organization, check out our book Flow Engineering, available now from IT Revolution. Here’s to leading with value!

- About The Authors

Steve Pereira

Steve Pereira has spent over two decades improving the flow of work across organizations. He’s worked through tech support, IT management, build and release engineering, and as a founding CTO for enterprise SaaS. He serves as lead consultant for Visible Value Stream Consulting, as a board advisor to the Value Stream Management Consortium, Chair of the OASIS Value Stream Management Interoperability technical committee, and co-founder of the Flow Collective to bring flow-focused professionals together. Since 2017, he has been developing and facilitating Flow Engineering to make flow improvement in large organizations accessible, collaborative, and actionable.

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Andrew Davis

Andrew is Chief Product Officer at AutoRABIT, focused on the next generation of DevSecOps on the Salesforce platform. He is also the author of the leading book on the Salesforce development lifecycle, Mastering Salesforce DevOps. He was formerly Senior Director of Methodology and Training at Copado.

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