“The core finding: only 8% of flow time is spent creating”
This is such an important point, Mik.
Your work, writing, offerings, and collaboration have been a real backbone of my thinking and of my previous organization’s transformation.
We spent 6+ years improving technology delivery: better Agile practices, smaller batches, trunk-based development, more frequent deployments, and roughly 80% improvement in build and delivery performance.
By the time we adopted Value Stream Management in 2022, delivery was already far more efficient.
The harder conversation for me was expanding the lens beyond delivery.
That is where I saw the most resistance. Organizations often want to keep productivity inside engineering because it feels measurable and controllable. But if only a small percentage of flow time is spent creating, then the opportunity is much broader.
The real leadership opportunity is improving product productivity across the full path from ideation to production, adoption, and realized value.
Thanks for sharing this data. Projects don't go away, but organizations which want to benefit from AI - beyond pockets - will have to use product management for products and project management for projects. There is always a work mix in play (@cutlefish) but there is a primary, secondary and tertiary context. You cannot optimize for more than one, so leaders will have to learn to prioritize their op model for the respective primary context. And more often than not that is product in our digital/AI age.
The high cost of coordination makes me doubt how we currently organize, not only across product development, but the whole organization, really...
“The core finding: only 8% of flow time is spent creating”
This is such an important point, Mik.
Your work, writing, offerings, and collaboration have been a real backbone of my thinking and of my previous organization’s transformation.
We spent 6+ years improving technology delivery: better Agile practices, smaller batches, trunk-based development, more frequent deployments, and roughly 80% improvement in build and delivery performance.
By the time we adopted Value Stream Management in 2022, delivery was already far more efficient.
The harder conversation for me was expanding the lens beyond delivery.
That is where I saw the most resistance. Organizations often want to keep productivity inside engineering because it feels measurable and controllable. But if only a small percentage of flow time is spent creating, then the opportunity is much broader.
The real leadership opportunity is improving product productivity across the full path from ideation to production, adoption, and realized value.
I’m looking forward to reading your new book!
Thanks for sharing this data. Projects don't go away, but organizations which want to benefit from AI - beyond pockets - will have to use product management for products and project management for projects. There is always a work mix in play (@cutlefish) but there is a primary, secondary and tertiary context. You cannot optimize for more than one, so leaders will have to learn to prioritize their op model for the respective primary context. And more often than not that is product in our digital/AI age.