The Amplio system page describes the amplio system. There is a top page and then 3 sub-pages.

1. What on amplio system page
2. Product management
3. Value stream

How can we improve workflows?

Improving workflows is not as difficult as most people believe. There are a few missing ingredients that are needed, but barely touched on.  These are covered in the Value Flow Engineering and Foundations section. When takes a systems thinking approach taking advantage of what’s known to cause delays and waste, it is straightforward to see how to improve systems.

Mini Lessons

• Premortem

• Amplio Team Estimation

• Deciding on iterations (sprints) or one-day timeboxing

• Diagnostic

Amplio Uses Value by Design to Break Common Constraints

Many people live within constraints that have been demonstrated to not be valid.

The biggest example of this is the Iron Triangle which asserts that the relationships between time, scope, and budget are fixed. For example, if you shorten time while maintaining the same budget then scope must decrease.

Toyota proved that the Iron Triangle, that is there is a unbreakable relationships between scope, cost, and time, was not true. They demonstrated that by focusing on quality, you could spend less time on rework (waste), and use that savings to get more value delivered in less time.

They demonstrated that with a focus on working a certain way, they could create more value with higher quality in less time and at less cost.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to mimic what Toyota did. But it is possible to learn the thinking behind how they did it.

See Amplio Axiom #7. The relationships between scope, time, and resources are not fixed for more.

The Amplio Approach to Value Improvement

Amplio takes the following approach:

1. Identifying symptoms
2. Analyzing these symptoms to determine a diagnosis.
3. Identifying targeted areas for improvement.
4. and only then Create a plan of action

Let’s go through a common problem I see in SAFe adoptions as an example.

Symptoms: The biggest problems in most Agile at scale adoptions are too much work in play due to:

1. Too many new functions started
2. Too many things in play at one time
3. Discovering new requirements for committed features late in the game
4. Ineffective planning – critical people not available when needed
5. Working on things that aren’t the most important
6. People working on several things at once

Analysis: The result of this is:

1. Multi-tasking, lowering overall efficiency
2. Too much work in process across the value stream
3. Delayed feedback which slows feedback and has people work on what we later know is not important
4. Teams getting out of synch which increases the time in testing and integration.

Targeted Improvement: To get out of this situation requires:

1. Having a focus on finishing things quickly at release level
2. Managing work in process at all levels of the value stream
3. Getting requirements in a way that has getting later detail not cause significant extra work
4. Alignment across the value stream so delays in the workflow are minimal. This allows for quicker feedback and lower-cost correction
5. Having all the necessary capabilities to complete a project and make it available for release as needed.
6. Improved planning