Driving DevOps with Value Stream Management

Value Stream Management (VSM) opens the door to maximizing your DevOps pipeline investments by improving flows and eliminating waste. VSM and DevOps together deliver value stream improvements across enterprises for a competitive advantage in the digital world. Driving DevOps with Value Stream Management provides a comprehensive review and analysis of industry-proven VSM methods and tools to integrate, streamline, and orchestrate activities within a DevOps-oriented value stream.

You'll start with an introduction to the concepts of delivering value and understand how VSM methods and tools support improved value delivery from a Lean production perspective. The book covers the complexities of implementing modern CI/CD and DevOps pipelines and then guides you through an eight-step VSM methodology with the help of a use case showing an Agile team's efforts to install a CI/CD pipeline. Free from marketing hype or vendor bias, this book presents the current VSM tool vendors and customer use cases that showcase their products' strengths. As you advance through the book, you'll learn four approaches to implementing a DevOps pipeline and get guidance on choosing the best fit.

By the end of this VSM book, you'll be ready to develop and execute a plan to streamline your software delivery pipelines and improve your organization's value stream delivery.

• Section 1:Value Delivery
1. Delivering Customer-Centric Value
• Viewing value from a Lean-oriented perspective
• Competing in a digital economy
• Diving into the many concepts of value
• Viewing value from the context of business assets
• Viewing value from the context of business relationships
• Establishing business relationships as value networks
• Establishing business relationships as value chains
• Defining customer value
• Developing a value proposition
• Aligning business strategies through five questions
• Creating a vision for the organization
• Delivering value
• Creating value
• Taking a Lean-Agile view of value
• Understanding the values and principles of Agile
• Reviewing the fundamentals of Lean Development
• Implementing Lean Software
• Development practices
• Delivering value through value streams
• Identifying value streams
• Mapping value streams
• Understanding VSM
• Building on the foundation of Lean
• Building on Agile
• Defining VSM concepts and processes
• Learning methods before tools
• Implementing VSM in IT
• Promising VSM growth
• Understanding the role of DevOps in delivering value
• Delivering value in IT
• Automating value across IT
• Collaborating across IT development and ops
• Defining IT value chains and value streams
• Accelerating Agility
• Integrating Lean, Agile, VSM, and DevOps
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
2. Building On a Lean-Agile Foundation
• Instilling the values and principles of Agile
• Leading Scrum and Lean-Agile metodologies
• Leading the way
• Gaining stakeholder support
• Agile quality metrics
• Agile productivity metrics
• Agile project metrics
• Health metrics for Agile teams/Agile performance metrics
• Core Lean and Kanban metrics
• Measuring software quality in Agile
• Implementing useful metrics
• Improving IT flows through Lean Thinking
• Eliminating waste in software development
• Creating the Lean-Agile foundation
• Accelerating flows across IT value streams
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
3. Analyzing Complex System Interactions
• Resolving IT complexity through systems thinking
• Analyzing cause and effects in systems
• Calculating potential connections
• Limiting connections
• Learning the vocabulary of systems thinking
• Visualizing the interrelationships of system elements
• Reading a CLD
• CLD model of analyzing Product Backlog priorities
• Open CLD model of Product Backlog refinement activities
• CLD model of design and work clarifications
• CLD model of analyzing work against team capacity
• CLD model of negotiations and trade-off activities
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
4. Defining Value Stream Management
• Technical requirements
• Implementing Lean concepts
• Implementing information flows
• Defining types of value streams
• Employing VSM
• Identifying value streams
• Establishing value stream boundaries
• Improving business value
• Leading the change
• Applying VSM methods and tools
• Defining the eight steps of VSM
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
5. Driving Business Value through a DevOps Pipeline
• Breaking down barriers
• Sharing accountability
• Improving flows with CI/CD pipelines
• Tooling to establish CI/CD pipelines
• Understanding virtualization
• Virtualization data center resources
• Employing hypervisor software for virtualization
• Using containers for virtualization
• Having it both ways
• Defining CI
• Encouraging frequent testing
• Defining CD
• Automating configuration tasks via code
• Protecting our software assets
• Enabling CI/CD and DevOps pipeline flows
• Improving pipeline flows
• Understanding the full scope of DevOps
• Defining CI/CD and DevOps pipeline boundaries
• Expanding the CI/CD model
• Resolving issues of mismatched velocities
• Scoping DevOps pipeline activities
• Integrating ITSM
• Delivering service value
• Encompassing the four dimensions of ITSM
• Delivering ITSM value
• Moving beyond projects and into products
• Funding project teams
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
• Section 2:VSM Methodology
6. Launching the VSM Initiative (VSM Steps 1-3)
• Committing to Lean — VSM Step 1
• Navigating the origins of Lean
• Linking Lean to value delivery
• Improving production flows without compromising flexibility
• Installing the right operating system for VSM
• Managing a VSM initiative
• Starting a VMS initiative
• Sustaining the VSM initiative
• Committing to Lean — tools
• Choosing a value stream — VSM Step 2
• Learnin g about Lean — VSM Step 3
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
7. Mapping the Current State (VSM Step 4)
• Evaluating the current state of Lean practices
• Contrasting business process modeling techniques
• Automating business processes
• Getting started with mapping
• Building a value stream mapping Icon standard
• Going to see (Gemba)
• Starting our map with the customer in mind
• Preparing to map
• Beginning the map
• Drawing the current state map in eight steps
• Creating an IT value stream map
• Documenting our Gemba walk findings
• Mapping the IT current state value stream
• Mapping the current state — tools
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
8. Identifying Lean Metrics (VSM Step 5)
• Defining universal Lean metrics
• Gathering Lean metrics
• Analyzing current value stream map metrics
• Breaking down CTs
• Improving percent complete to accurate (%C/A) metrics
• Assessing Lean performance
• Measuring key software delivery metrics
• Delivery lead time
• Deployment frequency
• Mean time to restore
• Change failure rates
• Adding flow metrics and analytics to VSM
• Going beyond the DORA Four
• Implementing the Flow Framework
• Creating a safe work environment
• Implementing the tools of Lean metrics
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
9. Mapping the Future State (VSM Step 6)
• Modeling three future state objectives
• Phase 1 — customer demand
• Calculating Takt times
• Establishing pitch
• Understanding production controls
• Managing buffers and safety inventories
• Improving the work environment
• Resolving demand-related problems
• Mapping the customer-demand map
• Future state — customer demand tools
• Phase 2 — continuous flow
• Evaluating the value stream as a complex system
• Applying the concepts of continuous flow
• Evaluating the impediments of flow
• Implementing production control strategies
• Balancing our value stream flows
• Stabilizing work practices
• Changing work layouts
• Displaying standardized work
• Drawing the continuous flow phase map
• Future state — continuous flow tools
• Phase 3 — leveling
• Leveling flows by analogy
• Assessing leveling needs
• Leveling concepts
• Leveling methods
• Drawing the leveling phase map
• Eliminating Agile-based batch processing
• Future state — leveling tools
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
10. Improving the Lean-Agile Value Delivery Cycle (VSM Steps 7 and 8)
• Combining Lean and Agile practices
• Making continuous Lean-Agile improvements
• Creating Kaizen plans — VSM step seven
• Connecting to a business strategy
• Planning Lean improvements across phases
• Developing Kaizen plans
• Obtaining approvals to proceed
• Implementing Kaizen plans — VSM step eight
• Addressing the issue of change
• Guiding Lean business transformation
• Decomposing Lean improvement work
• Managing VSM initiatives as portfolio-level investments
• Leveraging the tools of Kaizen
• Reviewing the VSM methodology
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
• Section 3:VSM Tool Vendors and Frameworks
11. Identifying VSM Tool Types and Capabilities
• Leveraging VSM tools and platforms
• Enabling VSM tool capabilities
• IT and business alignment
• Actionable and relevant data
• Data-driven, outcome-focused analytics
• Dynamic value stream visualization
• Workflow orchestration
• IT governance
• Highlighting important VSMP/VSM tool capabilities
• Classifying VSMP/VSM tool vendors
• Classifying VSDP tool vendors
• Classifying CCA tool vendors
• Key issues addressed by VSM tools
• VSM tool implementation issues
• Breaking down organizational silos
• Developing knowledge, skills, and resources
• Getting executive buy-in
• Overcoming budget constraints
• Knowing how to get started
• Lacking process maturity
• Maintaining governance and compliance
• Enabling business transformations
• Providing metrics to show business value
• Understanding costs across organizational value streams
• Understanding value stream lead and cycle times
• Managing risks across value streams
• Analyzing patterns and trends
• Accelerating improvements with AI
• Governing the software delivery process
• Managing value streams as continuous flows
• Visualizing value streams
• Improving cross-functional and cross-team collaborations
• Improving value stream efficiencies and handoffs
• Improved quality
• Performing what if analysis
• Reusing templates for better standard work items
• Unifying data and artifacts
• Integrating, automating, and orchestrating value stream activities
• Providing a common data architecture
• Developing and populating key performance indicators
• VSM tool benefits
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
12. Introducing the Leading VSM Tool Vendors
• Putting modern VSM tools in perspective
• Improving value delivery
• Using VSM beyond CI/CD and DevOps
• Listing the leading VSM tool providers
• Atlassian
• CloudBees
• ConnectALL
• Digital.ai
• GitLab
• HCL Software
• Kovair
• Micro Focus
• Plandek
• Plutora
• Quall
• ServiceNow
• Tasktop
• Apptio/Targetprocess
• ZenHub
• Summary
• Questions
• Suggested reading
13. Introducing the VSM-DevOps Practice Leaders
• The VSM Consortium
• Defining VSMC's purpose, mission, and goals
• Building the VSM industry through collaboration
• Delivering customer value through software
• Shepherding the VSM industry
• Offerings in progress
• Findings from the initial VSMC report
• PMI's DA FLEX
• Fitting Lean-Agile practices to support your way of working
• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
• Organizing around value streams
• Aligning ART's around value
• Competing in a digital economy with SAFe
• Leveraging DevOps to support the digital enterprise
• Making Lean-Agile improvements with SAFe
• Selecting the right SAFe configuration
• Achieving continuous value delivery
• Improving pipeline flows in SAFe
• Mapping the current and future states
• Enabling the CDP with DevOps
• SAFe customer use cases 
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
14. Introducing the Enterprise Lean-VSM Practice Leaders
• Going all-in on Lean
• Introducing LEI
• Training and certification programs
• Articulating VSM concepts
• Implementing the core concepts behind Lean
• Getting started with Lean
• Improving through experimentation
• Reflecting, sharing, and improving
• Defining the principles of Lean
• Applying Lean across the organization
• Implementing Lean to drive business transformations
• Creating a Lean action plan
• Completing the transformation
• Applying LEI's Lean transformation framework
• Co-learning partnerships
• Training and tools from LeanFITT^™
• Offerings from LeanFITT^™
• Implementing a phase-based approach to Lean improvements
• Phase 1 — Getting people trained and engaged
• Phase 2 — Standardizing the improvement process
• Phase 3 — Energizing the team with active involvement and transparency
• Phase 4 — Making Lean routine and sustainable
• Improving quality with LeanFITT
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
• Citing LEI use case studies
• Section 4:Applying VSM with DevOps
15. Defining the Appropriate DevOps Platform Strategy
• Avoiding DevOps implementation pitfalls
• Interviewing the experts
• Interview with Helen Beal
• Interview with Scott Ambler
• Interview with Pramod Malhotra
• Interview with Yaniv Sayers
• Interview with Allan Wagner
• Interview with Joel Kruger
• Deciding on an appropriate DevOps platform strategy
• Building a custom DevOps platform
• Purchasing DaaS
• Employing VSM tools
• Building reusable software factories
• Dealing with corporate implementation mandates
• Dealing with creative versus repeatable pipeline activities
• Addressing the pitfalls of DevOps
• Avoiding the pitfalls of Conway's Law
• Implementing a CALMS framework
• Deciding on the appropriate DevOps platform strategy
• Avoiding mandates
• Avoiding wasted time
• Eliminating silos and increasing cross-functional team collaboration
• Upskilling becomes critical
• Implementing pre-production testing
• Separating DevOps engineering from DevOps as a practice
• Allowing flexibility in DevOps policies and procedures
• Improving velocity with quality
• Building DevOps teams from within
• Automating database builds
• Maintaining incident handling procedures
• Integrating security with DevOps
• Gaining knowledge of DevOps
• Getting fatigued while implementing DevOps
• Coding secrets in source control
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
16. Transforming Businesses with VSM and DevOps
• Uniting VSM initiatives
• Diverging customer-centric development strategies
• Defining VSM as a modern software tools category
• Using VSM for DevOps improvements
• Implementing the Lean aspects of the VSM roadmap
• Implementing the Agile aspects of the VSM roadmap
• Establishing a business transformation vision
• Implementing tools is not a replacement for people
• Creating a VSM team for DevOps transformations
• Connecting to enterprise VSM initiatives
• Using OKRs to drive business transformations
• Aligning VSM initiatives with strategies and portfolios
• Understanding how VSM initiatives can fail over time
• Expanding the vision for the VSM tool industry
• Summary
• Questions
• Further reading
• Appendix A — VSM Charter
• Appendix B — VSM Storyboard
• Assessments
• Other Books You May Enjoy

Well, this is not a book about DevOps as it is a book about Value Stream Mapping, even though they are intertwinned.

With that said, the only major criticism I have is that it is too detailed, which some see as bad and others as good. Granted, it manages to get into a lot of finer details that you may find useful, it is a daunting read.

Anyway, if you are interested in the topic, I would gladly recommend this book.