Many organizations who have tried to implement value stream management (VSM) are now having issues with getting the results they want out of this practice.

According to a recent survey from Broadcom, more than two-thirds of respondents claimed that their visibility isn’t what it should be. In addition, the majority of companies are missing a key characteristic of mature VSM organizations, which is the continuous availability of data. Sixty-nine percent say they share their VSM metrics only quarterly or monthly. Only 9% continuously share data.

Just 2% of respondents to the survey consider themselves to be at a level of VSM maturity, where they are using VSM on all of their products. Sixty percent are in the early adoption stage, 13% are in planning, and 25% have a pilot project. In addition, 23% are only running VSM on a single product. “While organizations acknowledge the significance of VSM, a substantial portion find themselves in the early phases of adoption. This survey indicates a growing interest in ongoing performance improvements and aspiration for holistic, enterprise-wide visibility, alignment and efficiency to increase customer value,” said Jean-Louis Vignaud, head of ValueOps at Broadcom.

The survey also pointed out peoples’ challenges with mapping metrics to value. Sixty-three percent say their metrics aren’t mapped to product performance, and 11% say their companies don’t provide business metrics for measuring products.Decision making still remains largely centralized as well, with 85% of decisions either being made at the leadership level or requiring leadership approval before proceeding. 

To help companies better assess their maturity with VSM, Broadcom has now announced the Value Stream Management Maturity Model, which was created based on the survey results. The model provides insights, guidance, and actionable steps to help companies meet their VSM goals. It includes five levels: Foundational, Value Stream Aware, Collaborative and Visible, Data-Driven, and Full Transparency and Flow. 

“Value stream management has become a pivotal strategy for digital transformation, but success requires that teams understand where they’re at and where they’re going,” said  Vignaud. “To help enterprise teams on their VSM journey, we developed a progressive model that defines maturity from the early stages focused on breaking down silos to full maturity, delineated by data-driven alignment and an established culture of continuous improvement. Our hope is this model will serve as a guide for organizations as they progress along their digital transformation journey.”