Value streams and managing flow seem to be finally gaining momentum as ways to understand and mitigate delivery risks in knowledge work.

It's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for ways to explore how workflow changes are likely to play out over time without having to wait all those days to see!!! I especially like that they've gone to great lengths to model in variability and a bit of randomness, since real life is anything but linear.

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For the past year or so, I have been using  vsoptima for value stream mapping and simulation of up to one year of flow in a number of contexts and business domains for various clients.

I managed to forecast flow blockages (in advance of Kanban boards that end up showing the same information months later) in fast-moving consumer goods, travel, and digital business domains.

The beauty of this tool is one doesn't need to know one's value stream to start. I would go so far as to say one could use this tool for work system topologies in flight levels and simulate flow through multiple levels, as the tool is flexible.

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