The second principle of the Certified Lean Project Manager® – achieving flow in the value stream

One main benefit of lean project management is that your organization creates business processes that are effective and well suited to your organization or projects. For successful implementation, you’ll need to adjust yourself and your team for the transition mentally. This is because lean project management is more than a set of tools or a just a methodology. Rather, it is a mindset. Instead of prescribing exactly how you should manage a project, lean project management defines principles that you can interpret and implement to fit your needs.

The second principle – achieving flow in the value stream

The second lean principle is to achieve perfect flow in your organization’s value stream. Value is defined as something the customer wants and where he is willing to pay for it. The value stream is what you use to deliver value.

This includes all the information, tasks, and actions you use to create a deliverable product. To achieve perfect flow, we have to remove all obstacles and waste from the value stream. Waste is known as “muda”, which is the Japanese term for waste. If you remove the waste from the value stream, it will optimize the flow of production and the delivery of value to the customer. Examples of activities that don’t add value are burdensome administrative processes and the provision of services that customers don’t require. The goal is to eliminate activities that don’t add value whenever possible. Additionally, we should analyze each activity that adds value. We then can identify more efficient ways of performing the activity.

Lean Project Management implies a business system that administers and arranges product development, suppliers, processes, and customer relations by applying lean principles, tools, and practices to minimize waste and create value for the customers. 

Waste elimination is the basic idea contained in the definitions. Waste is generally referred to as ‘muda’, ‘muri’, or ‘friction’ in lean manufacturing. According to lean advocates, a perfect lean enterprise is one in which friction or waste is absent. However, we cannot ignore the fact that friction is never completely absent, so there are only degrees of leanness.

Establish systemic methods for the elimination of waste within a manufacturing process. Enroll in the Certified Lean Project Manager®