Optimizing Value Streams: Turn Friction into Flow
Course snapshot
Prerequisites: None, although some basic familiarity with scrum is recommended
Course overview
About this course
This course establishes what needs to be optimized within an organization, diagnosing friction and measuring improvements.
By the end of the course, you'll be able to analyze value streams and process data to distinguish constraints, apply flow metrics to illustrate system predictability and health, and analyze product strategies to differentiate between feature-led and outcome-led strategies.
Key takeaways:
Distinguish between outputs and outcomes to focus on customer impact
Map value streams to pinpoint constraints, delays, and hidden friction
Apply flow metrics to assess system predictability and organizational health
Use the "Complexity Lens" to choose the right improvement strategy for any problem
Validate hypotheses using value metrics instead of vanity metrics
Communicate the business value of technical excellence to stakeholders
Average time to complete: 8 hours
Format: Live, instructor-led.
Credential: Microcredential
Prerequisites: None. This is an advanced-level agile coaching course. Prior experience and/or knowledge in agile coaching is strongly recommended.
What you'll get: Eight hours of live learning, SEUs, and a badge to showcase your advanced agile coaching skills.
Receive a two-year Scrum Alliance membership upon completing the course.
Who is this course for?
This course is for professionals who want to move beyond team-level activity and start optimizing the entire system for value.
Agile coaches looking to measure true organizational value
Agile coaches planning to take the Certified Agile Coach exam
Product owners and managers aiming to shift from feature-led to outcome-led strategies
Scrum masters ready to use lean principles to surface system-wide delays
Leaders and executives who need to connect technical quality to business goals
Continuous improvement leaders wanting to design high-impact, low-risk experiments
Course modules
Distinguish outcomes from outputs and explain why outcomes matter in complex organizational systems.
Compare multiple outcome-centric frameworks such as OKRs, Impact Mapping, and North Star.
Analyze how organizational structure, quality, technical excellence, and continuous improvement enable sustainable outcomes.
Identify common impediments that prevent organizations from shifting to outcome-focused work.
Analyze current and future value streams across teams and functions.
Distinguish between process maps and value-stream maps and identify where each is useful.
Identify constraints, delays, handoffs, and system friction.
Apply Lean principles to improve flow and surface improvement opportunities.
Apply tools, metrics, and frameworks to support continuous improvement.
Compare and contrast two approaches to experimentation and problem-solving.
Explain how complexity influences coaching choices and improvement strategies.
Explain the role of technical excellence in improving flow and reducing waste.
- Analyze and validate hypotheses using meaningful value metrics.
- Connect team work to customer and business impact.
- Compare traditional quality measures to agile quality principles.
- Tell a clear and compelling story with data.
Unmatched quality and scale
"Simply amazing learning experience!"
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Developed by community experts
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Is a microcredential worth it?
Microcredentials are a great way to continually add new skills with fast and flexible formats. Here are just a few reasons microcredential training is a worthwhile investment for you and your team.
- Focused expertise — gain specialized knowledge in a specific area
- Flexible learning — learn the way you prefer by choosing from live or on-demand learning formats
- Cost-effective — typically less expensive than certifications or degree programs
- Relevant — topics prioritized to cover industry trends and emerging technologies
- Expedient — earn a credential in hours as opposed to weeks, months, or years
- Recognizable — validated by Scrum Alliance, a globally recognized credentialing body
- Practical — build skills and knowledge immediately applicable in your role
- Stackable — combine microcredentials to build comprehensive learning pathways
Train your team!
Interested in purchasing this course for more than one person? We can help.
This course establishes a diagnostic lens for understanding how value flows through an organization. It focuses on identifying friction, measuring improvement, and shifting the focus from "how much we build" to "what impact we create."
The Feature Factory is a cycle in which teams focus solely on shipping features (outputs) without understanding if they are solving customer problems (outcomes). This course provides frameworks, such as OKRs and North Star metrics, to interrupt this cycle.
A process map shows how work is supposed to happen; a value stream map reveals how value actually flows. You will learn to use "X-ray vision" to see the handoffs and delays that a standard process map might miss.
It is a tool that helps you recognize when a problem requires a structured, root-cause approach (like A3) versus a rapid, discovery-based approach (like Lean Startup). This prevents the common trap of applying the wrong tool to the wrong problem.
You will learn to move away from "vanity metrics" like velocity and toward "value metrics." This allows you to tell a compelling story with data that resonates with leadership by connecting teamwork to business impact.
This live, 8-hour course provides an interactive environment to practice mapping real-world value streams and analyzing process data. You'll collaborate with peers to diagnose systemic friction and receive direct feedback on your diagnostic approach.
This is considered an advanced-level agile coaching course. Agile coaching experience, or completion of a previous Scrum Alliance agile coaching course, is recommended.
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Stop guessing what to fix. Start seeing the friction.