Types of Value Streams
This article explains the differences between Operational and Development Value Streams, provides some general examples, and includes simple visualizations to help illustrate and understand the core concepts—along with related terminology used in frameworks like SAFe and beyond.
Operational and Development Value Streams
This terminology is widely used, particularly within the context of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)1. In simple terms: Development Value Streams (DVS)2 build solutions, while Operational Value Streams (OVS)3 sell, deliver, and support those solutions for the organization’s customers. Here are some common examples of Operational Value Streams:
|
OVS Name |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Order to Cash |
From receiving a customer order to delivering the product/service and collecting payment. |
|
Request to Service |
A customer submits a request or incident, and the organization resolves it. |
|
Procure to Pay |
Internal value stream for acquiring goods or services from suppliers, from requisition to payment. |
|
Browse to Buy |
Customer visits the site, finds a product, places an order. |
|
Return to Refund |
Customer initiates a return and receives a refund. |
|
Patient Intake to Discharge |
The process of admitting, treating, and releasing a patient from a healthcare facility. |
Operational Value Streams are commonly illustrated in formats like the one below:
Development Value Streams are the engines that create the solutions an organization delivers—whether directly to customers or as enablers of internal operations. These streams encompass all the activities needed to conceive, design, build, test, and enhance the systems that support Operational Value Streams.
A Development Value Stream might deliver a software solution, such as a customer-facing mobile app for online banking or shopping. It could produce an internal enterprise system like a CRM or a self-service portal used by employees or partners.
In other cases, the solution may be cyber-physical—for example, a vehicle’s infotainment system or a smart home device that combines hardware and embedded software. In industrial or healthcare settings, it might be a piece of connected equipment or a monitoring system.
Development Value Streams can be visualized as shown below. In this case it also shows some potential flow metrics4 that can be applied to a Development Value Stream
Other used Terminology
You may also encounter alternative classifications for Value Streams—such as Core and Supportive or Business and Digital—used by organizations like the Value Stream Management Consortium. Each has its pros and cons and may be more appropriate depending on the specific context, purpose, or organizational mindset.5
References
- https://framework.scaledagile.com/ ↩︎
- https://framework.scaledagile.com/development-value-streams/ ↩︎
- https://framework.scaledagile.com/operational-value-streams/ ↩︎
- Flow Metrics, introduced in Mik Kersten’s Flow Framework®, are Lean-based measurements that track how work moves through a value stream. Metrics like Flow Time, Flow Velocity, and Flow Efficiency help organizations detect bottlenecks, reduce waste, and align delivery with business outcomes—making them especially useful in complex software and product development environments. We will talk more about modeling and measuring Development Value Streams in another Article. ↩︎
- https://www.vsmconsortium.org/vsm-taxonomy#faq-value-stream-categor…-4-2 ↩︎