Workflow

Inspired by: Value Stream Mapping (VSM) | Team counterpart: Board

The Workflow maps improvements to the processes they affect. Where the Board shows a single team's tasks and improvement status, the Workflow shows how multiple improvements flow through shared processes across teams.

Purpose

• Map all active improvements by process, not by team
• Identify overlaps (two teams improving the same process step)
• Identify dependencies (one team's improvement requires another's completion first)
• Provide the Progress Leader with a process-level view of all transformation activity

Produced in

• Network — Updated when improvements are synchronized and validated across processes

Key Principle

Teams think in teams. Processes think in flows. The Workflow forces the organization to see improvements through the lens of the value stream, not through the lens of the org chart.

Anti-pattern: The Org Chart Map

The Workflow is organized by department or team instead of by process. Each team's improvements are listed under their name, but no one can see how those improvements affect the end-to-end value stream. The artifact mirrors the org chart instead of challenging it.

How to detect: The Workflow has columns or sections labeled with team names, not process steps. No one can trace an improvement from its origin to its impact on the final customer. The Network event reviews improvements team by team, not process by process.

How to recover: Rebuild the Workflow around value stream steps. Start with the customer and work backward: what are the major process steps that deliver value? Map each active improvement to the process step it affects. If two teams' improvements touch the same step, that is precisely the overlap the Workflow must make visible.