Value Stream Management
Value Stream Management enables organizations to deliver goods and services to their customers more rapidly at higher quality and lower cost by streamlining the flow of value across the enterprise. Improving the flow through the value stream requires breaking down traditional organizational boundaries or “silos” and seeing work from the customer’s perspective. This requires changes to physical and transactional processes, as well as how teams and leadership responsibilities are structured.
How to Get Started with Value Stream Management
Practicing Value Stream Management builds a customer-focused continuous improvement culture. When we work in a flow, align our efforts, and communicate, we can meet our customer needs better. The shift begins by recognizing that working in silos or functional departments does not always serve the customer best.
Transformation from traditional management to Value Stream Management is done through the following 10 step process:
- See the flow of work as customer-focused value streams.
- Document reality, or the current state of the value streams.
- Arrive at a consensus on the target condition.
- Draw the future state value stream map as an ideal condition to strive towards.
- Make a plan and begin improving the process toward the future state design goals.
- Make a plan and begin updating the organizational structure and management roles to support the future state design goals.
- Study Lean Accounting principles, make a plan, and begin putting Value Stream Costing in place to support the future state design goals.
- Periodically update the current state map based on the new and improved condition, and identify next steps toward the long-term future state.
- Periodically update the vision for the future state of the Value Stream, based on changing business conditions and long-term objectives.
- Continuously improve by closing gaps between the current condition and target condition, repeating the process above.
The first five steps of Value Stream Management above are addressed through the Value Stream Mapping activity.
Transforming Your Value Streams
As part of our growing School of Lean library, the Transforming Your Value Streams course guides you through the process of identifying your current state, designing a future state and making an implementation plan. This begins with identifying the value streams within your organization, a detailed mapping and analysis of each step, and prioritizing the problem spots and improvement opportunities.
Through this course you will learn how to see the reality of how value flows through your enterprise from end to end, and develop a plan to start making improvements.
Value Stream Managers
An organization practicing Value Stream Management often must create a new role: the Value Stream Manager. Unlike a traditional manager who is responsible for a vertical function, department, or set of processes, a Value Stream Manager is responsible for ensuring that the value flows smoothly through multiple departments or silos to the customer. The Value Stream Manager focuses not on improving the performance of any specific department but seeks to improve the ratio of value to non-value, cutting out waste from the overall service delivery chain from start to finish for a defined product family.
Value Stream Costing & Lean Accounting
The traditional way of cost accounting does not support the new and improved ways of working in customer-focused, flow-oriented value streams. This requires that we use new approaches to identify and establish costs for all the process steps involved in creating value for the customer. Value Stream Costing is one of these methods, and is introduced in our Lean Accounting course.
Value Stream Mapping Practitioner Interviews
Value Stream Mapping Podcasts

Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation, with Karen Martin
Listen NowValue Stream Mapping Articles
For more great blog articles, make sure to visit blog.gembaacademy.com
Value Stream Mapping Current State
- Let's Create a Current State Value Stream Map!
- 2 Ways to Handle Varying Inventory Levels When Creating Value Stream Maps
- Holding Up the Top Half of the Value Stream Map
Future State Value Stream Mapping
- Let's Create a Future State Value Stream Map!
- Three Ways to Draw Future State Value Stream Maps
- Some Thoughts on Future State Value Stream Mapping
Value Stream Mapping Questions Answered
- Value Stream Mapping Q&A
- Where Did Value Stream Mapping Come From?
- Value Stream Mapping Confusion
- Where to Start the Lean Journey: 5S or with VSM?
Value Stream Mapping Book Reviews
- Review of Value Stream Mapping by Karen Martin & Mike Osterling
- Review of Building a Lean Fulfillment Stream
Miscellaneous Value Stream Mapping Articles
- Value Stream Maps & Right Brain Thinking
- Brilliant Value Stream Mapping Icon Fonts
- Value Stream Management: Evidence on the Parking Lot
Support for Value Stream Management
We assist clients in their transition to Value Stream Management through online learning and provide support in the following ways:
- Facilitating a Value Stream Mapping workshop to create the current state map
- Leading a Value Stream Mapping workshop to design the future state map
- Assisting in creating a future state action plan to identify pilot projects, ROI, and timelines
- Designing Value Stream organizations
- Designing Value Stream Manager roles, and coaching them
- Leading improvement workshops to implement elements of the value stream action plan
- Train-the-trainer in using the Gemba Academy online learning curriculum
Are you ready to take your Value Stream Mapping to the next level with Gemba Academy?