Book Review: Flow Engineering

Have you worked for or do you work for an organization that is growing exponentially. Our organizations are growing dramatically as it has become easier to expand operations globally either through acquisition or through addressing new markets. These fragmented segments and disconnected infrastructures can greatly impact radical transformation and business improvements. As the company grows waste and delay grow exponentially taxing the business more and more.

If you’re looking for a way to be able to chip away at this complexity turn to Flow Engineering: From Value Stream Mapping to Effective Action. Written by Value Stream Mapping experts Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis, Flow Engineering provides a step-by-step guide for running fast-paced mapping workshops that rapidly build shared understanding. Based on foundations from Value Stream Mapping, cybernetics, and the Toyota Production System, Flow Engineering's lightweight and iterative practices build the value, clarity, and flow required for effective collaboration and collective action.

Flow Engineering is a series of collaborative mapping exercises designed to connect the dots between an unclear current state and a clear path to a target state. It’s an open, adaptive, and engaging series of practices that can take you from complexity to clarity, from friction to flow.

Using the five key maps to facilitate collaborative “flow conversations,” Pereira and Davis show how teams can surface tangled process dependencies, conflicting priorities, and unspoken assumptions that grind progress to a halt. The result? A clear roadmap owned by the people doing the work to accelerate innovation cycles, optimize workflows, and achieve more effective coordination.

The book is organized into 3 parts. The first being gaps that need to be bridged and why they have been a challenge for most organizations. The second part lays the foundation for flow engineering with the five mapping steps. The last part describes approaches to scaling and sustaining your progress with Flow Engineering beyond an initial pilot. Throughout the book the authors use a fictional example to help illustrate the practices of Flow Engineering. Each chapter summarizes key learning points for emphasis.

This book is for Lean practitioners familiar with the basics of value stream mapping and basic agile knowledge. Curious problem-solvers struggling to help their teams or organizations see the big picture will find benefit from the techniques in Flow Engineering. It’s easy to adapt and tailor to varied situations. It’s flexible enough to help teams of any skill level, and it’s robust enough to be used for ambitious process improvements or day-to-day problem-solving.

If you are looking to improve flow, explore more, or be inspired then consider reading Flow Engineering.

This book will be released May 14^th but you can preorder here: https://amzn.to/3QkTZhc

Note: The publisher IT Revolution sent me an advanced copy to review.