Is your Value Stream Mapping backwards?

In the book, Learning to See by Mike Rother and John Shook, they recommend a mapping tip of beginning the Value Stream Mapping process by walking downstream from the customer end. This way, they say you will begin with the processes that are linked most directly to the customer. As I was reading, actually re-reading the book, I thought how simple and intelligent that statement was. Starting at the end of the process should be the logical thing to do if you are considering developing a pull system. It is the beginning. This is very similar to my thoughts I expressed in my Mirror Marketing E-book.

Mirror Marketing E-Book

In a marketing perspective, how often do we really consider what our customer is real needs are. I find it interesting in a recent study by Rain Today they cited that the number one reason that most professional service sales are lost is CLARITY! I think it might also be said for many product opportunities. It might not be directly, but if your product or offer was fully understood before the purchase decision was made, would that improve your closing rate?

So do things become clearer walking backwards? Try this old golf trick, walk your favorite golf course backwards. Does the out of bounds, elevations and other danger seem entirely different? Why not put yourself in your customer shoes? In Six Sigma perspective, we call this process Voice of Customer, but do we really consider the metrics of delivery performance, number of defects, invoice accuracy and other views that the customer is experiencing.

If you have a customer that will take the time with you, try having him draw a process map of your product. Or just blue sky the different experiences that he has with your organization. How accurate are they? After that, have them draw a future state. What would they like to see from your organization? Are you willing to deliver that experience?

A value stream map will take into account not only the activity of the product, but the management and information systems that support the basic process. You will gain insight into the decision making flow in addition to the process flow. The basic idea is to first map your process, then above it map the information flow that enables the process to occur.

Related Information: Did you know you could draw your Value Stream Map in Excel