On the other hand, the total number of hours it takes to get from step 1 through to step 5 (based on our previous example), make up the lead time. Therefore, lead time is the sum of all the processing time involved to complete a project, combining the processing time from the build stage, the deployment stage, and post deployment stage.
So in manufacturing, it is the lead time that drives production times and the is the basis for stock-taking and inventory management. This can all be seen in a value stream map, and by looking at it, teams can compute for productive and non-productive hours and compare it side by side, and reveal the bottlenecks, choke-points, unnecessary duplicate steps, and the gaps in hand offs that slow down the process. Through this effort, manufacturing lines and production teams can streamline the process by eliminating time wastage, removing unnecessary steps, as well as repetitive steps that take up time but do not add any value to the end product. And all these can be seen and understood by looking at the current value stream mapping, which will reveal the ways and opportunities for improvement when developing a future-state value stream mapping.
Value Stream and Deployment Lead Times
So why is it important to review the current value stream map and develop a DevOps improved version of it? The reason for it is to sustain the overall health of an organisation. In order to stay relevant and remain competitive, if not the best in the field, operations must be able to deploy continuously, deploying new features whenever they are ready. Small releases are better, as it is easier to test and integrate each feature and pinpoint errors when they occur, as compared to a bigger releases that tend to be more complex and pose the risk of larger failures that can snowball in the process of fixing it.
When a value stream is lean and efficient, it allows teams to work faster and enable them to deploy products with fewer gaps in time. Smaller integrations are easier to troubleshoot, in case a problem arises, and it’s easier to resolve as the issue is more focused, making it more manageable to find and implement solutions. This dramatically reduces the amount of work in progress, thereby allowing teams to direct the time to developing new features instead of being stuck in solving a large, complicated issue.
The Different Lengths of Lead Time
Lead time can take minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, or even years in larger production environments like in the automotive industry. Hand offs play a crucial factor in the length of a lead time; the faster a team is in completing the step, the sooner they can send it to the next team to handle it.
Dependencies are another factor that affect lead time. This is why it is important to make sure that teams working together are working at the same pace, to ensure that the timing is right and that there is no interruption in the workflow to ensure continuity in the process.
A task that is handled by a single person, like a ticket submission for example, will only require a few minutes of lead time. Once the ticket creation is completed, the next step would be for the receiving team to acknowledge it and perform the actions necessary to complete their task. This can be in the form of informing other parties and stakeholders of the matter for the ticket raised, checking back to see if everyone has responded and has provided supplies, equipment, etc, before going back to the ticket owner with an approval or a go signal to commence with work. This step may take hours or even days of lead time, depending on the response time of everyone involved in the receiving and approval process.
Once work begins, lead times can increase to days and weeks, or even months. In order to maintain short lead times and keep production at a steady pace, teams must adopt a more efficient approach like breaking down huge projects into smaller chunks, as well as working on smaller projects, instead of working on an entire project with a year long lead time. By the time the project is done, it is possible that the product is no longer as new as they’ve wanted it to be. This is why it is better to make small releases – not only is integration less prone to issues but also increase the value of a product as time goes by.
A leaner and more efficient value stream map results in better outcomes that can be delivered in a faster and more timely manner. Improving the speed in the delivery of products and services adds more value to it, and in the same manner, improves business profitability and most importantly, customer satisfaction.
Embracing the DevOps approach does not promise change overnight, but once it is implemented, the change it brings will definitely be felt and seen, especially when it comes to reducing time wastage and improving the use of it.