Mindset Shift to Capacity Funding is Hard but not Impossible!

‘Fund Value Stream, not Initiatives‘ is easier said than done! Funding the Value Stream funds the fixed capacity of the ART that sits on that Value Stream … in turn funds the fixed capacity of Agile Teams that comprise the ART.

Not sure why this mindset shift to capacity funding is hard to attain. It is seemingly simple enough… and practical.

Nonetheless, I think that with a lot of patience, time and baby steps, funding a fixed capacity that is delivering a continuous flow of value (albeit in small batches) within a sustainable cadence will be attained! It is just a matter of time and the required mindset shift! It is not impossible at all.

Long time ago, people send packages to various places… and the cost of the shipping of the product depends on its weight and size… cost of shipping and schedule of delivery are then determined/negotiated.

Today, people send packages… fixed cost based on the fixed capacity boxes. As long as the ‘product’ fits in the fixed-capacity box… it will be shipped per the delivery cadence at a fixed cost. Example is the USPS (United States Postal Office) Flat-Rate Priority Mail. They have a fixed-capacity box and fixed delivery schedule… all the customer has to make sure of is that the product (take this as analogous to the MVP or MMF in Lean-Agile) that he/she is shipping fits within the two ‘constraints’: 1) the fixed capacity of the box, and 2) the fixed delivery cadence!

I like this model… been shipping with USPS via their flat-rate box since they have introduced it! I self-determine what I can ship (legal items, of course) with the fixed capacity box and two days shipping as ‘constraints’. This is a Lean-Agile example at its finest… funding of / paying for capacity instead of per product.

USPS had that mindset shift … but took them a while to realize the beauty and power of it to customers like me. I believe that the same is true — mindset shift on funding capacity will be realized when they are ready — for other enterprises, both big and small.

Related earlier-posted item: ‘Lean-Agile Put The Waterfall Iron Triangle Upside Down‘