From Flow Problems to Executable Roadmaps
A thirty-slide executive briefing in three focused pages. Use the twelve-slide overview map below to orient the story, then enter 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3.
Block 1 · What It Is
A decision system for problems no single unit can resolve alone
Start with the operating definition, the boundaries, the leverage test, and the outputs that must survive the event.
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1
What It Is · ≈ 45 seconds
From Flow Diagnosis to a Decision System
The workshop has identified where the current system may lose time, capacity, and feedback. The next question is how the organization can make the cross-boundary decisions that change those mechanisms.
Input Prioritized Flow Problems Observable interruptions, affected units, evidence, and open hypotheses.
Design Need Shared Decision Capability Authority, knowledge, capacity insight, and artifact ownership must converge.
Handoff A Conference Candidate A problem enters the conference only when a shared decision or artifact update can materially improve Flow.
Diagnose the system before designing the meeting.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentCreate a clean pivot from diagnosis to organizational action without jumping directly to a preferred event format.
How to facilitate
- Keep the ranked Flow-problem backlog visible while introducing this section.
- Name the transition explicitly: we are moving from “where the system breaks” to “how the system can decide.”
Listen and watch for
- Whether participants can point to one or two concrete Flow Problems rather than generic frustrations.
- Questions that reveal missing authority, evidence, or artifact ownership.
Avoid
- Presenting the Value Stream Conference as the predetermined solution before testing leverage.
- Reopening the entire Flow Diagnosis instead of using its output.
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2
What It Is · ≈ 1 minute
No Single Unit Owns the Whole Consequence
Persistent Flow Problems often span product, technical, supplier, governance, and capacity boundaries. Local decisions can improve one part while shifting delay, risk, or cost to another.
Authority Decision Rights Are Distributed No single ART or function can close the complete trade-off.
Knowledge Evidence Lives in Different Places Portfolio intent, technical constraints, delivery reality, and external commitments are separated.
Capacity Shared Constraints Need Joint Trade-offs Platforms, specialists, suppliers, environments, and investment envelopes connect several units.
Artifacts The System Has Several Partial Truths Roadmaps, ADRs, capacity views, risk logs, and contracts must tell one coherent story.
Decision prompt Which of our prioritized Flow Problems has consequences that no single unit can resolve safely?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentExplain the structural reason for a Value Stream-level decision system: the consequence and the required knowledge are distributed.
How to facilitate
- Use one Flow Problem from the previous exercise and name the boundaries it crosses.
- Ask what would happen if one unit optimized the problem locally.
Listen and watch for
- Participants naming shifted cost, delayed feedback, or hidden risk across boundaries.
- A tendency to equate “cross-boundary” with “invite everyone.”
Avoid
- Blaming organizational silos as personalities rather than describing decision and artifact interfaces.
- Assuming centralization is the only answer.
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3
What It Is · ≈ 1 minute
A Time-Boxed Decision and Refinement System
A Value Stream Conference is a time-boxed, highly interactive decision and refinement system for questions that no single team, ART, or function can resolve alone.
Scope Cross-Boundary Work Business, product, multiple ARTs, architecture, suppliers, platforms, and central functions.
Prepared Work Decision-Ready Inputs Flow Problems, decision candidates, evidence, options, authority, capacity, and trusted artifacts.
Integrated Result A Shared Draft and Path Forward Decisions, roadmap updates, operating-model hypotheses, owners, and a Go-Refine Path.
The conference is defined by the decisions and artifact updates it enables—not by its size, seniority, or presentation quality.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentGive participants one operational definition they can use to distinguish the conference from familiar large meetings.
How to facilitate
- Read the definition once, then unpack scope, prepared work, and integrated result.
- Stress both words: decision and refinement. The event closes some choices and prepares others for responsible follow-through.
Listen and watch for
- Whether participants hear “conference” as a presentation event.
- Questions about whether the conference must always be two days; defer format variants until later.
Avoid
- Equating interaction with unstructured discussion.
- Implying that the conference itself creates execution commitments.
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4
What It Is · ≈ 1 minute
Five Boundaries Protect the Design
The fastest way to misunderstand a Value Stream Conference is to copy a familiar large event and rename it.
Not 1 Not a Lecture Conference Context is curated for decisions, not presented as a parade of updates.
Not 2 Not a Status Meeting Every block changes a decision state, shared artifact, or refinement path.
Not 3 Not Giant PI Planning The conference integrates drafts; ARTs create commitments in PI Planning.
Not 4 Not Random Breakouts Each Decision Lab has a mission, authority, harvest, and handoff.
Not 5 Not the End of Refinement Open work leaves with a named Go-Refine Path.
After the conference comes refinement—not execution.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPrevent familiar meeting patterns from silently replacing the intended decision system.
How to facilitate
- Invite participants to identify the anti-pattern most likely in their organization.
- Repeat the PI Planning boundary clearly: direction and integrated drafts are not ART commitments.
Listen and watch for
- Relief or resistance around the statement that the conference does not finish the plan.
- Whether “breakout” is being treated as sufficient design detail.
Avoid
- Dismissing presentations entirely; concise context can be necessary when it changes a decision.
- Undervaluing the conference because it does not create commitments.
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5
What It Is · ≈ 1 minute
Not Every Flow Problem Belongs in the Conference
Use four gates before a Flow Problem enters the shared decision backlog.
Gate 1 Material Impact The problem impairs a relevant end-to-end outcome, Value Point, Quality boundary, or reliability target.
Gate 2 Cross-Boundary Nature Several executing or decision-making units are involved.
Gate 3 Observable Evidence A source, repeated observation, or explicit validation gap exists.
Gate 4 Conference Leverage A shared decision or artifact update could materially improve the Flow.
Decision prompt If one gate fails, which local backlog, analysis task, initiative, or governance path should receive the problem instead?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPosition the conference as a selective mechanism rather than a universal container for organizational pain.
How to facilitate
- Apply the four gates to one of the highest-ranked Flow Problems.
- Treat a failed gate as useful routing information, not as rejection of the problem.
Listen and watch for
- Problems with high pain but no decision leverage.
- Evidence gaps that can be owned before a conference decision.
Avoid
- Using cross-boundary scope alone as sufficient justification.
- Allowing political importance to substitute for observable impact or leverage.
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6
What It Is · ≈ 1 minute
The Event Creates a Draft—and a Disciplined Path Forward
The conference is valuable when its outputs remain usable after the room closes.
1 Integrated Draft A Value Stream Roadmap and, where needed, operating-model hypotheses.
2 Decision Trail Choices, trade-offs, assumptions, outcome status, and unresolved questions.
3 Artifact Updates Named owners and a visible update backlog for trusted records.
4 Go-Refine Path Who hardens which draft, in which recurring sync, by which readiness test.
5 PI Planning Inputs Validated, coherent, plan-ready inputs for later ART commitments.
Conference ≠ commitment. PI Planning remains the commitment anchor.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentMake the output concrete and establish the handoff to refinement and PI Planning.
How to facilitate
- Walk through all five outputs from draft to PI Planning input.
- Ask which output is usually lost after large cross-boundary workshops.
Listen and watch for
- A tendency to describe the result only as “alignment.”
- Whether named artifact owners and next syncs are missing from current practice.
Avoid
- Claiming the roadmap is final because senior leaders accepted it.
- Treating a confidence vote as proof of detailed feasibility.
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7
What It Is · ≈ 45 seconds
One Operating Logic Connects the Events
The conference works only as one part of a larger decision, refinement, commitment, and learning system.
Prepare Diagnose and Make Decisions Ready Flow Problems, authority, options, evidence, capacity, and artifacts.
Confer Integrate and Decide Explore, resolve trade-offs, update shared drafts, and assign owners.
Refine Harden Where Knowledge Lives Close dependencies, test feasibility, and make artifacts coherent.
Plan Create ART Commitments PI Planning translates plan-ready inputs into responsible commitments.
Learn Use Execution Evidence Flow and outcome signals strengthen the next cycle.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPlace the Value Stream Conference in the complete operating model before explaining its preparation steps.
How to facilitate
- Read the five verbs as one loop rather than five governance levels.
- Emphasize that detailed work remains close to the knowledge.
Listen and watch for
- Participants trying to collapse confer, refine, and plan into one event.
- Questions about how execution feedback returns to the next cycle.
Avoid
- Presenting the sequence as a rigid universal calendar.
- Adding meetings without naming the decision or artifact state each one changes.
Block 2 · How to Prepare It
Diagnose, enable, choreograph, and refine
The four preparation steps preserve the complete reasoning chain from current-state Flow Problems to plan-ready inputs.
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8
How to Prepare It · ≈ 45 seconds
Four Preparation Steps Make the Conference Decision-Capable
The executive overview compresses a much deeper preparation system into four questions.
1 Flow Problems What must the Value Stream be able to change?
2 Ability to Decide Which decisions, people, evidence, capacity, and artifacts are required?
3 Conference Agenda How will the event move prepared decisions through exploration, integration, and resolution?
4 Refinement Cadence How will drafts become coherent and plan-ready after the event?
The four steps are sequential: diagnose first, then enable, choreograph, and refine.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentGive the room a simple map for the preparation portion of the briefing.
How to facilitate
- Connect each step to a failure it prevents.
- Explain that “Flow Problems” includes the Value Stream Landscape, objectives, shared initiatives, capacity, and problem diagnosis.
Listen and watch for
- Participants treating the steps as independent workstreams.
- A desire to jump immediately to agenda design.
Avoid
- Presenting every detailed canvas from the training.
- Implying the overview is sufficient to run the conference without deeper preparation.
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9
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 45 seconds
Step 1: Build the Coordination Context and the Decision Backlog
The first preparation step is not a blank-canvas brainstorm. It builds five connected layers around one objective and one traceable Flow Item.
1A Value Stream Landscape Contributors, constraints, decision interfaces, and confidence gaps.
1B Business Objectives Outcomes whose achievement requires joint coordination.
1C Shared Initiatives Standards, capabilities, and changes that several units must evolve together.
1D Capacity Real absorption, bottlenecks, fixed demand, and available flex.
1E Flow Problems Evidence-aware interruptions that need cross-boundary decisions.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentShow the internal structure of the Flow Problems preparation step without teaching the entire training module.
How to facilitate
- Present the five layers as overlays on one Flow Item.
- Explain that each layer must help clarify why the item moves, waits, returns, or fails.
Listen and watch for
- Landscape mapping expanding into an exhaustive organizational inventory.
- Objectives being confused with Flow Items.
Avoid
- Treating the five outputs as disconnected workshop products.
- Solving the problem before the current-state interruption is visible.
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10
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 1 minute
Map the Value Stream Landscape Around the Flow
Capture only the units, systems, partners, and decision interfaces that influence the selected objective and Flow Item.
Executing Units ARTs, Solution Trains, Solution Areas Teams, capacity, integration roles, and local decision boundaries.
Shared System Platforms and Central Functions Architecture, DevOps, data, cybersecurity, finance, legal, procurement, compliance, and operations.
External Flow Suppliers, Partners, Customers Lead times, interfaces, evidence gates, operating feedback, and service constraints.
Minimum Data Name, Type, Scale, Roles, Reason, Confidence Unknowns remain visible as validation gaps instead of stopping the work.
The Landscape sets scope; the Flow Item keeps it honest.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentExplain that the Landscape is a working hypothesis about the coordination system, not a polished organization chart.
How to facilitate
- Use one selected Flow Item and ask which entities can speed, block, decide, or validate it.
- Keep confidence and unknowns visible.
Listen and watch for
- Units included only because they exist in the organization.
- False precision in people or team counts.
Avoid
- Waiting for a perfect operating-model picture.
- Mapping unrelated entities that do not influence the selected flow.
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11
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 1 minute
Clarify Which Objectives Create Coordination Demand
Business Objectives set direction. The preparation does not reprioritize the portfolio; it reveals which outcomes change who must coordinate, what must be prepared, and what the conference must resolve.
Outcome What Should Become True? Name the observable outcome, stakeholder, and time horizon.
Scope Who Is Affected? ARTs, suppliers, shared platforms, central functions, and operating units.
Coordination Why Is Joint Work Needed? Shared decisions, sequencing, integration, constraints, or evidence.
Conference Input What Does the Objective Change? Invitees, roadmap inputs, Decision Labs, and follow-up syncs.
Decision prompt Which objective would be hardest to achieve because several units must align, decide, or sequence work together?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentSeparate strategic priority from coordination demand.
How to facilitate
- Use one objective and ask what exactly the conference would need to make possible.
- Keep local objectives visible because they help define what does not need Value Stream-wide coordination.
Listen and watch for
- Activity statements masquerading as outcomes.
- Portfolio-priority debates reopening during preparation.
Avoid
- Filtering local objectives too early.
- Assuming a high-priority objective automatically belongs in the conference.
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12
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 1 minute
Identify What the Value Stream Must Build or Evolve Together
A Value Stream Initiative is a shared domain of work that needs a common understanding, standard, capability, community, or roadmap across the Value Stream.
Shared Standard Rules Several Units Must Follow Architecture principles, API conventions, evidence rules, security controls, or Definition of Done.
Shared Capability Foundations Several Units Depend On Platforms, pipelines, environments, telemetry, test infrastructure, or data/AI capabilities.
Shared Change A Change Several Units Must Co-evolve Operating model, skills, supplier collaboration, toolchain, or transformation roadmap.
Decision Rule Keep Local Work Local If one ART or function can decide and deliver without cross-unit impact, it does not need Value Stream-level ownership.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentMake shared initiatives visible as part of the technical and organizational foundation behind the roadmap.
How to facilitate
- Ask whether several parts of the Value Stream must build, follow, evolve, or understand the same thing.
- Use “existing, needed, not needed, unknown” as a quick triage.
Listen and watch for
- Every large project being labeled a Value Stream Initiative.
- Communities being proposed without an owned roadmap, standard, or decision contribution.
Avoid
- Over-formalizing ownership before the need is clear.
- Treating shared initiatives as status-report lanes.
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13
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 1 minute
Make Capacity Trade-offs Real Enough to Decide
Capacity preparation is not a utilization contest. It reveals whether the proposed direction fits the real absorption of ARTs, platforms, specialists, suppliers, and operational constraints.
Count Know the Executing Units People, teams, scarce skills, environments, and external capacity.
Bucket Use a Small Decision-Relevant Set New work, enablers, maintenance, KTLO, compliance/safety, innovation, and buffer.
Estimate Show Source and Confidence Known, estimated, unknown, or conflicting data remains explicit.
Read Expose Constraints and Flex Make displacement, bottlenecks, fixed demand, and realistic headroom visible.
The exercise is successful when the group can have a more honest capacity conversation than before.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentShow why capacity evidence is necessary for credible cross-boundary trade-offs.
How to facilitate
- Use rough, sourced estimates rather than decorative precision.
- Ask what must move or stop if a new shared initiative enters the roadmap.
Listen and watch for
- Participants comparing ART performance from rough estimates.
- Headcount being treated as the only constraint.
Avoid
- Using too many capacity buckets.
- Hiding uncertainty inside percentages.
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14
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 1 minute
Turn Friction into an Evidence-Aware Flow Problem Backlog
A symptom is not yet a Flow Problem, and a preferred recurring meeting is not yet a diagnosis.
Symptom What People Experience Missed dates, defects, overload, unreliable outcomes, or repeated escalation.
Flow Problem What the Current System Does Waiting, queues, handoffs, excess WIP, late feedback, rework, or delayed decisions.
Evidence What Makes the Claim Challengeable Examples, recurrence, time, work-item age, WIP, rework, variance, or an owned validation gap.
Cross-Boundary Reason Why No Unit Can Resolve It Alone Authority, ownership, capacity, interfaces, or evidence are distributed.
Create a decision backlog before creating an agenda.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentConnect the earlier Flow Diagnosis directly to conference preparation.
How to facilitate
- Use the strongest current Flow Problem as the example.
- Keep solution ideas visible on a parking lot without allowing them into the statement.
Listen and watch for
- Generic labels such as communication, dependency, or governance.
- Cause hypotheses being presented as proven root causes.
Avoid
- Demanding perfect data before proceeding.
- Selecting a meeting solution instead of defining the decision need.
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15
How to Prepare It · Step 1 · ≈ 45 seconds
Step 1 Ends with a Decision Backlog—not a Solution List
The preparation package makes each conference candidate traceable from objective to interruption and evidence.
Flow Context Objective, Flow Item, Trigger, Value Point Why the flow matters and where the end-to-end boundary begins and ends.
Current State Landscape, Initiatives, Capacity The contributors and constraints that shape the interruption.
Problem Statement, Impact, Evidence, Confidence A challengeable description of what waits, returns, splits, or is decided too late.
Conference Candidate Affected Units and Shared Leverage The reason a joint decision or artifact update may help.
Next: derive the decisions, people, evidence, and artifacts required to change it.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentClose the first preparation step with a tangible handoff to Ability to Decide.
How to facilitate
- Point out that a strong output lets the next step infer required decisions without guessing.
- Name remaining evidence gaps and owners.
Listen and watch for
- A polished map with no clear decision leverage.
- A candidate problem that still hides a solution.
Avoid
- Starting agenda design before the problem package is sufficiently specific.
- Treating every unknown as a blocker rather than preparation work.
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16
How to Prepare It · Step 2 · ≈ 45 seconds
Step 2: Complete the Decision System
Ability to Decide turns one prioritized Flow Problem into an agenda-ready decision architecture.
Frame Name the Choice and Trade-off What exactly must be selected, allocated, accepted, deferred, or escalated?
Place Choose the Lowest Capable Level Where can the full cross-boundary consequence be resolved?
Enable Bring the Required Capabilities Authority, expertise, representation, capacity insight, and artifact ownership.
Prepare Assemble Minimum Decision Evidence Options, criteria, guardrails, capacity, confidence, and open gaps.
Persist Change the Trusted System State Artifact update, outcome status, owner, validation, and next action.
People and preparation are derived from the decision—not from the organization chart.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentIntroduce the five-verb Ability to Decide model as the second preparation step.
How to facilitate
- Read the five verbs in sequence.
- Connect every verb to a common reason decisions are delayed, reopened, or ignored.
Listen and watch for
- Participants jumping straight to invitees.
- A stakeholder list being mistaken for a decision architecture.
Avoid
- Explaining contributor deep dives in this compressed overview.
- Treating the room itself as the decider.
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17
How to Prepare It · Step 2 · ≈ 1 minute
A Flow Problem Is Not Yet a Decision
Translate the observable interruption into a choice that can materially change the Flow.
Symptom Regulatory Launch Is at Risk The visible outcome that creates urgency.
Flow Problem Interface Decisions Arrive After ART Commitments The observable interruption in the current decision flow.
Decision Choose the Interface Contract—and What Scope Moves The explicit trade-off a real authority can close.
Persistence Update ADR and Roadmaps The shared system state changes so the choice survives the meeting.
Decision prompt What would have to be decided for our strongest Flow Problem to change materially?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentDemonstrate the translation from diagnosis to a closable conference decision.
How to facilitate
- Use the example as a progression rather than a universal solution.
- Ask participants to state one decision verb for their own problem.
Listen and watch for
- Topics phrased as “discuss,” “align,” or “review.”
- Cause hypotheses being mistaken for decisions.
Avoid
- Writing a complete briefing paper inside the decision question.
- Selecting a recurring sync as the decision itself.
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18
How to Prepare It · Step 2 · ≈ 1 minute
Five Questions Make the Conference Able to Decide
Answer them in sequence; each answer constrains the people, preparation, agenda, and follow-through.
What? The Explicit Choice Which option, allocation, trade-off, guardrail, or escalation must close?
Where? The Decision Level At which level can the full consequence be resolved safely?
Who? Roles and Participation Who decides, contributes, represents, owns, and validates?
With What? Decision Basis Which options, evidence, capacity view, criteria, and guardrails matter?
What Changes? Artifact and Status Which trusted record changes, how binding is the result, and what follows?
Flow Problem → Decision → Level → Roles → Evidence → Artifact → Validation.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentGive participants the shortest complete Decision Architecture checklist.
How to facilitate
- Pause briefly after each question and let participants map it to one current decision.
- Highlight that blank answers become preparation backlog items.
Listen and watch for
- A decision with no explicit alternative or consequence.
- An artifact update with no named owner.
Avoid
- Starting with “who should attend?”
- Equating representative agreement with execution commitment.
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19
How to Prepare It · Step 2 · ≈ 1 minute
Invite Capabilities for the Moment They Are Needed
A decision-capable room has the right authority and reality without turning the conference into an audience event.
Capability Decision Power Can close the choice or approve the cross-boundary trade-off.
Capability Capacity Insight Knows what ARTs, platforms, suppliers, and specialists can realistically absorb.
Capability Subject-Matter Expertise Understands architecture, compliance, security, operations, or external constraints.
Capability Representation Brings credible perspectives from affected working units.
Capability Artifact Ownership Can update and publish the trusted roadmap, agreement, or record.
Participation modes: Core · Decision Window · Standby · Preparation Only · Inform or Validate After.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentDistinguish decision capability from broad attendance.
How to facilitate
- For each capability, ask whether it is needed throughout the event or only in a defined decision window.
- Use the rule of thumb: no Decision ID, no full-time invitation.
Listen and watch for
- Courtesy attendance being labeled Core participation.
- Standby arrangements without response-time expectations.
Avoid
- Using job titles as proof of authority or expertise.
- Requiring every contributor to attend the full two days.
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20
How to Prepare It · Step 2 · ≈ 1 minute
Integrate Three Prepared Roadmap Perspectives
The Value Stream Conference is not a spontaneous brainstorming event. It integrates prepared inputs into a decision-ready draft.
Portfolio What Should Be Achieved? Business Objectives, strategic themes, investments, priorities, and hard market or regulatory dates.
Shared Foundations What Must Be Developed Together? Architecture, platform, DevOps, security, compliance, toolchain, data/AI, and transformation roadmaps.
Tactical Contribution What Is Realistically Deliverable? ART capacity, KTLO, constraints, contribution forecasts, dependencies, and local risks.
Without one perspective, the conference lacks direction, system thinking, or realism.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentShow the minimum roadmap stack that makes trade-offs grounded and integrable.
How to facilitate
- Explain that each decision consumes only the relevant slice of each roadmap layer.
- Ask which layer is weakest for the current problem.
Listen and watch for
- Complete roadmap presentations replacing decision packages.
- Tactical feasibility being overridden by strategic enthusiasm.
Avoid
- Assuming more slides create better preparation.
- Allowing the conference to become six generic status-report lanes.
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21
How to Prepare It · Step 2 · ≈ 1 minute
If No Trusted Artifact Changes, the System Probably Has Not Changed
A durable decision updates the shared state that teams, leaders, and partners will rely on after the conference.
Priority / Scope Value Stream and Portfolio Roadmaps Outcome sequence, milestones, guardrails, and selected trade-offs.
Architecture / Interface ADR and Interface Agreement Binding technical choice, rationale, and evolution path.
Capacity / Contribution Capacity Envelope and ART Contribution Roadmaps What can be absorbed, what is displaced, and which constraints remain.
Risk / External Evidence Plan, SLA, Contract, or Risk Log The authoritative record for constraints and follow-through.
Decision prompt Who can edit and publish the authoritative artifact during or immediately after the decision?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentMake persistence and artifact ownership part of the decision definition.
How to facilitate
- Ask for one exact artifact and one named owner per critical decision.
- Distinguish a meeting note from the authoritative roadmap or agreement.
Listen and watch for
- Several artifacts changing with nobody coordinating consistency.
- A decision rationale that disappears after the event.
Avoid
- Calling every artifact a single source of truth without real update rights.
- Leaving validation and next action implicit.
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22
How to Prepare It · Step 3 · ≈ 45 seconds
Step 3: Choreograph Prepared Decisions
Agenda Design does not invent topics. It sequences decisions, collaboration, artifact updates, and handoffs around the prepared Decision Backlog.
Input Decision Backlog Prioritized choices, deadlines, readiness status, and unresolved gaps.
Participation Core, Windows, Standby, Validation People join for defined contributions rather than courtesy attendance.
Decision Basis Minimum Packages Options, evidence, capacity, constraints, and guardrails.
Persistence Artifact Map Trusted records, owners, expected updates, and handoffs.
A room, a topic, and a time slot do not yet constitute a Decision Lab.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentReframe agenda design as decision-flow design rather than event administration.
How to facilitate
- Ask which prepared input each agenda block consumes and which artifact it changes.
- Keep Red decisions out of unstructured conference discussion.
Listen and watch for
- Agenda blocks with no explicit output.
- Timeboxes assigned before the work and authority are understood.
Avoid
- Using familiar meeting rituals by default.
- Filling the agenda with presentations until no time remains for decisions.
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23
How to Prepare It · Step 3 · ≈ 1 minute
A Stable Five-Block Macro-Flow
The reference architecture moves from shared context through divergence, integration, resolution, and consolidation.
1 Vision Statements Curated context, intent, constraints, and guardrails create decision readiness.
2 Breakouts Day 1 Decision Labs pool evidence, expose options, and work the highest-priority Flow Problems.
3 Alignment and Planning Adjustment Integrate drafts, route conflicts, update guardrails, and reset Day 2.
4 Breakouts Day 2 Resolve trade-offs, refine the roadmap, and test Organize around Value hypotheses.
5 Final Alignment Consolidate the draft, risks, outcome status, owners, confidence, and Go-Refine Path.
Stable macro-flow · tailored Decision Labs · standardized interfaces.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentGive leaders a memorable picture of the complete two-day reference agenda.
How to facilitate
- Describe the state change in each block rather than the detailed methods.
- Explain that duration variants may compress the calendar but must preserve the five functions.
Listen and watch for
- Day 2 beginning with unchanged assumptions from Day 1.
- Final Alignment being described as final execution planning.
Avoid
- Treating the two-day pattern as mandatory ritual.
- Adding parallel sessions without enough representation or harvest discipline.
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24
How to Prepare It · Step 3 · ≈ 1 minute
Tailor Each Decision Lab to the Problem State
A Decision Lab moves one prepared problem to its next meaningful state; it does not promise a ceremonial decision when evidence, options, or authority are not ready.
Mission Starting State → Target State Problem framed, evidence pooled, options shaped, decision-ready, or decided and roadmapped.
People Participant and Authority Windows Must Stay, Expert Window, Decision Window, On Call, and Artifact Owner.
Work The Lightest Reliable Structure Silent evidence, exploration, option comparison, dependency negotiation, or scripted decision sequence.
Harvest Common Record + Primary Work Product Decision record, mini-roadmap, option matrix, dependency map, experiment plan, or updated system artifact.
Handoff Named Next Recipient Alignment block, artifact owner, refinement workstream, or escalation path.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentExplain why the work inside the agenda must be problem-specific while its interfaces remain standardized.
How to facilitate
- Use one Flow Problem and choose an honest target maturity state.
- Ask whether the planned authority and evidence can reach that state.
Listen and watch for
- A method being selected before mission and output.
- Decision authority appearing only after the working sequence ends.
Avoid
- Promising “decision made” when evidence or authority is missing.
- Harvesting only presentation slides rather than usable work products.
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25
How to Prepare It · Step 4 · ≈ 45 seconds
Step 4: Design the Missing Middle
The conference creates direction and integrated drafts. The Refinement Cadence closes decisions, integrates artifacts, and makes later commitments responsible.
Conference Direction + Integrated Draft A shared starting point with decisions, assumptions, and open work.
Refinement Clarify + Harden Domain work and cross-boundary integration where the knowledge lives.
Readiness Closed Decisions + Coherent Inputs Dependencies, interfaces, risks, capacity, and artifacts converge.
PI Planning ART Commitments Teams and ARTs plan responsibly without reopening essential upstream decisions.
A cadence is a decision-and-artifact system—not a calendar of meetings.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentIntroduce the purpose of refinement as the bridge between conference alignment and ART commitment.
How to facilitate
- Name the missing middle explicitly.
- Ask which conference outputs would currently decay because no owner, artifact, or next decision exists.
Listen and watch for
- Participants treating refinement as backlog grooming only.
- Higher-level direction being presented as an ART promise.
Avoid
- Adding standing meetings before naming refinement objects and state changes.
- Using the calendar date as the readiness test.
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26
How to Prepare It · Step 4 · ≈ 1 minute
Conference Alignment Is Not Commitment
Each work system has a different decision responsibility, and confusing them produces false certainty or late replanning.
Conference Create Direction and Options Integrate drafts and close only the decisions the room is authorized and prepared to make.
Domain Refinement Test Feasibility Where Knowledge Lives Product, architecture, ART, supplier, compliance, and capacity workstreams harden the draft.
Cross-Integration Close Boundary Consequences Interfaces, dependencies, shared constraints, and artifact consistency are resolved.
Readiness Review Test the Handoff Essential decisions are closed and planning inputs tell one coherent story.
PI Planning Commit at ART Level ARTs create the actual execution commitments.
Decision prompt Can ARTs plan without reopening an essential upstream decision?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentProtect the boundary between directional alignment, refinement, and commitment.
How to facilitate
- Use the readiness question as a hard test.
- Explain that refinement protects both strategic direction and local commitment quality.
Listen and watch for
- Leadership language that silently converts a draft into a commitment.
- Teams discovering essential trade-offs for the first time in PI Planning.
Avoid
- Describing refinement as extra governance.
- Pre-committing detailed work for absent teams.
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27
How to Prepare It · Step 4 · ≈ 1 minute
Refine Objects Through Visible State Changes
Meetings are temporary containers. Decisions, roadmaps, interfaces, dependencies, capacity assumptions, risks, and operating-model hypotheses are the units of progress.
1 Conference Harvested The work product is documented and understood.
2 Owned Driver, artifact owner, contributors, and authority access are named.
3 Domain-Refined The relevant detailed work is complete where the knowledge lives.
4 Cross-Integrated Dependencies, interfaces, and shared constraints are coherent.
5 Decision-Closed Blocking trade-offs are resolved or explicitly escalated.
6 Plan-Ready The object can enter PI Planning without reopening essentials.
Useful mechanisms: domain refinement · cross-boundary sync · decision window · artifact integration · readiness review.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentGive leaders a state-based way to think about the refinement cadence.
How to facilitate
- Stress that the states are diagnostic, not a new approval bureaucracy.
- Ask which state currently creates the largest gap before PI Planning.
Listen and watch for
- Events that cannot name the object or state change they advance.
- Artifact drift between roadmap, architecture, capacity, and risk views.
Avoid
- Scheduling authority into every detail meeting.
- Declaring readiness because a deadline has arrived.
Block 3 · Why It Matters Here
Test the leverage against the real effort
The final three slides connect the workshop outputs to a falsifiable Value Stream Conference hypothesis and prepare the room to decide.
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Why It Matters Here · ≈ 1 minute
The Conference Could Connect the Logic We Have Built Today
The workshop has already created the inputs for a testable Value Stream Conference hypothesis.
Constraints Protect Quality and Test Feasibility The Fully Fixed Iron Triangle separates hard constraints, guardrails, commitments, and assumptions.
Flow Target System Delay Instead of Pressuring People The Flow Diagnosis identifies waiting, queues, handoffs, rework, overload, and delayed decisions.
Decisions Bring Distributed Authority and Evidence Together The conference can close cross-boundary trade-offs that no single unit can resolve alone.
Roadmap Turn Problems into an Owned Change Path Problem-removal roadmaps and a draft Value Stream Roadmap connect interventions, capacity, evidence, and review.
Cadence Keep the Draft Alive A Go-Refine Path and recurring syncs make the next ART commitments more responsible.
The leverage chain is: protected boundaries → Flow Problems → decisions → roadmap changes → refinement → measurable effects.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentConnect the Value Stream Conference directly to the organization’s workshop outputs rather than presenting generic benefits.
How to facilitate
- Point back to the visible artifacts created in earlier sections.
- Use conditional language: could help, if the candidate tests and readiness conditions hold.
Listen and watch for
- Participants expecting the conference to create capacity by decree.
- Benefits stated without connection to a current Flow Problem.
Avoid
- Selling the method instead of testing the hypothesis.
- Promising that one event removes structural problems without follow-through.
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Why It Matters Here · ≈ 1 minute
The Benefit Must Clearly Outweigh the Preparation and Event Cost
A Value Stream Conference is an investment. The decision should compare expected system leverage with the real work required to make the event decision-capable.
Potential Benefit Release Effective Capacity Reduce waiting, queues, handoffs, rework, context switching, and decision latency.
Potential Benefit Improve Roadmap Coherence Integrate strategic direction, shared foundations, tactical capacity, dependencies, and external constraints.
Potential Benefit Expose Risk Earlier Resolve or route conflicts before they harden into ART commitments.
Required Effort Prepare for Four to Twelve Weeks Sponsor, facilitation team, interviews, Decision Backlog, evidence, options, participation map, and artifacts.
Required Effort Run and Follow Through A two-day reference event plus artifact updates, refinement work, and recurring decision syncs.
Decision prompt Would the expected improvement be significant—and would it clearly exceed the preparation, participation, and follow-through cost?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentMake the value proposition falsifiable and prevent method enthusiasm from replacing an investment decision.
How to facilitate
- Ask participants to name one measurable benefit and one real preparation cost.
- Clarify that four to twelve weeks is the planning window proposed for this workshop decision, not a universal rule.
Listen and watch for
- Benefits described only as alignment or communication.
- Effort estimates that ignore artifact work and refinement after the event.
Avoid
- Using sunk frustration as justification without a leverage hypothesis.
- Demanding a precise financial business case when directional evidence is sufficient for a first conference hypothesis.
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Why It Matters Here · ≈ 45 seconds
Now the Room Makes an Explicit Choice
The next exercise tests the complete logic rather than asking whether participants simply liked the presentation.
1 Does the Flow Logic Make Sense? Protect Quality, test feasibility, and use Flow as the remaining management lever.
2 Could a Value Stream Conference Help? Can shared decisions and artifact updates unlock the identified potential?
3 Would the Improvement Be Significant? Would the benefit clearly outweigh preparation and execution effort?
4 Do We Want to Run One? Yes, conditional yes, not yet, or no—with explicit reasoning.
5 When? Select a concrete two-day date within a realistic preparation window.
The purpose is not consensus theatre. It is a transparent decision, its conditions, and the next owned action.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentCreate a neutral transition from briefing to participant judgment.
How to facilitate
- Read the five questions without arguing for a preferred answer.
- Explain that independent reflection comes before group discussion.
Listen and watch for
- Participants answering only the final yes/no question.
- Unspoken conditions that could later undermine the decision.
Avoid
- Treating dissent as resistance to be overcome.
- Leaving the date question until an undefined follow-up.
What this briefing produces
A shared, source-grounded decision basis for whether a Value Stream Conference could materially improve this system.
What the room now understands
- What the conference is—and what it deliberately is not.
- How Flow Problems, decision capability, agenda design, and refinement fit together.
- Which benefits and preparation costs must be compared.
- Which five questions the final exercise must answer.
Transition to the final exercise
Do not end with agreement that the idea sounds interesting. Make the choice explicit.
Step 7 Overview · 12 Slides
Orient the thirty-minute briefing before entering 7.1
These slides replace the former card wall. They explain the three-page structure and the four preparation steps without repeating the thirty source slides.
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Step 7 Overview · Orientation
From Flow Problems to Executable Roadmaps
Step 7 turns the prioritized Flow Problems from the previous exercise into a grounded decision basis for a Value Stream Conference.
Input Prioritized Flow Problems Observable mechanisms, affected units, evidence, and open hypotheses.
Decision Need Shared Authority and Knowledge The people who can decide, explain constraints, allocate capacity, and update trusted artifacts.
Output Decision Basis for Your Choice A shared view of what the conference is, how it is prepared, and whether it is worth the effort.
The overview is a facilitator map. The complete briefing remains on pages 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentOrient the room to the complete Step 7 story before entering the detailed briefing pages.
How to facilitate
- Keep the Flow Diagnosis output visible as the input to this story.
Listen and watch for
- Participants treating the conference as the predetermined solution.
Avoid
- Reopening the full diagnosis instead of using its output.
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Step 7 Overview · Orientation
One Thirty-Minute Story in Three Focused Parts
The briefing is split so each decision story has enough room without turning one page into a thirty-slide scroll marathon.
7.1 · 7 min What It Is Define the conference, protect its boundaries, and test Conference Leverage.
7.2 · 20 min How to Prepare It Move through Flow Problems, Ability to Decide, Agenda Design, and Refinement Cadence.
7.3 · 3 min Why It Matters Here Compare expected improvement with preparation and follow-through effort.
7 minutes + 20 minutes + 3 minutes = the complete 30-minute briefing.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentMake the timing and three-page architecture explicit.
How to facilitate
- Name the three parts and their timeboxes once.
Listen and watch for
- The middle preparation block consuming the decision close.
Avoid
- Adding overview time to the protected thirty-minute briefing.
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7.1 · What It Is · Overview
Define the Decision System Before Designing the Event
The first page answers the basic question: what organizational capability is a Value Stream Conference meant to provide?
Problem Distributed Consequences No single unit owns the whole impact of the selected Flow Problems.
Capability Cross-Boundary Decisions Authority, expertise, delivery reality, and artifact ownership converge.
Boundary Not a Large Status Meeting Every block changes a decision state, shared artifact, or refinement path.
Decision prompt Which of our Flow Problems genuinely needs a shared decision system?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview the purpose of page 7.1 without delivering its seven detailed slides.
How to facilitate
- Connect the definition to one selected Flow Problem.
Listen and watch for
- Conference being interpreted as attendance scale or seniority.
Avoid
- Selling the format before testing leverage.
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7.1 · What It Is · Overview
Seven Slides Establish the Conference Boundaries
Page 7.1 moves from Flow Diagnosis to an operational definition, an explicit leverage test, and outputs that survive the event.
Slides 1–2 Why a Shared System Is Needed Move from diagnosed mechanisms to distributed decision consequences.
Slides 3–5 Definition, Anti-Patterns, and Leverage Clarify what the conference is, what it is not, and which problems belong.
Slides 6–7 Outputs and Operating Logic Connect the conference to refinement and later ART commitments.
Page 7.1 ends when the room can distinguish a Value Stream Conference from a familiar large meeting.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentShow the internal logic of the seven-slide definition page.
How to facilitate
- Enter page 7.1 at slide 1 when presenting live.
Listen and watch for
- Outputs being confused with execution commitments.
Avoid
- Reading this overview instead of the detailed slides.
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7.2 · How to Prepare It · Overview
Make the Conference Decision-Capable Before It Begins
The second page explains the preparation system that turns a promising event idea into a forum capable of making and sustaining decisions.
Step 1 Flow Problems Define the coordination context and prepare a decision backlog.
Step 2 Ability to Decide Bring authority, knowledge, capacity insight, and artifact ownership.
Steps 3–4 Agenda and Refinement Choreograph prepared decisions and design the missing middle before PI Planning.
Preparation is managed decision work—not event administration.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview the twenty-minute preparation story and its four steps.
How to facilitate
- Name all four steps before entering the details.
Listen and watch for
- Preparation being reduced to invitations and slide collection.
Avoid
- Presenting the four steps as independent checklists.
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7.2 · Preparation Step 1 · Overview
Start with the Value Stream Landscape and Flow Problems
The conference scope follows the Flow of value, not the reporting structure. The selected Flow Problems become the red thread through preparation and follow-through.
Landscape Set the Coordination Boundary Contributors, interfaces, constraints, and decision points around the Flow.
Evidence Describe Observable Mechanisms Waiting, WIP, handoffs, rework, slow feedback, interruptions, and delayed decisions.
Backlog Select Conference Leverage Prioritize problems where a shared decision or artifact update can materially improve Flow.
Decision prompt Which prepared Flow Problems deserve scarce conference attention?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview the first preparation step as the source of scope and decision demand.
How to facilitate
- Connect the conference backlog to the prior Flow Diagnosis.
Listen and watch for
- Generic transformation topics replacing specific Flow Problems.
Avoid
- Using the organization chart as the conference boundary.
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7.2 · Preparation Step 2 · Overview
Invite for the Decision—not for Courtesy
Ability to Decide starts with the decision and works backward to the capabilities, evidence, and trusted artifacts required to advance it.
Authority Decision Rights Who can close, condition, escalate, or fund the choice?
Knowledge Expertise and Delivery Reality Who understands the system, constraints, and practical consequences?
Persistence Artifact Ownership Who can update and publish the roadmap, agreement, capacity view, or evidence plan?
No Decision ID, no automatic full-time invitation.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview participation as capability design rather than stakeholder enumeration.
How to facilitate
- Ask which capability is missing for one critical decision.
Listen and watch for
- Courtesy attendance being labeled Core participation.
Avoid
- Inviting everyone for two days.
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7.2 · Preparation Step 3 · Overview
Design the Agenda as Decision Flow
The agenda sequences prepared decisions, collaboration, artifact updates, integration, and handoffs; it is not a timetable filled with familiar meeting rituals.
Macro-Flow Five Stable Blocks Vision, Day 1 breakouts, alignment, Day 2 breakouts, and final alignment.
Decision Labs Problem-Specific Work Each lab has a mission, authority window, evidence, harvest, and named handoff.
Interface Standardized Outputs Decision trail, updated artifact, work product, owner, and next state.
Decision prompt What decision state and artifact change does each agenda block produce?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview agenda design as choreography of prepared state changes.
How to facilitate
- Ask what each block consumes and changes.
Listen and watch for
- Agenda blocks with no explicit output.
Avoid
- Selecting methods before mission and output.
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7.2 · Preparation Step 4 · Overview
Design the Refinement Cadence Before the Conference Ends
Conference alignment is not commitment. The Refinement Cadence hardens decisions, integrates artifacts, and makes later ART commitments responsible.
Conference Direction and Integrated Draft Shared choices, assumptions, open work, and a Go-Refine Path.
Refinement Domain Work and Cross-Integration Resolve interfaces, dependencies, capacity, evidence, and artifact consistency.
PI Planning ART Commitment Anchor Teams and ARTs plan without reopening essential upstream decisions.
Decision prompt Can ARTs plan without reopening an essential upstream decision?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview the missing middle between conference alignment and execution commitment.
How to facilitate
- Use the readiness question as the hard test.
Listen and watch for
- Leadership language converting a draft into a commitment.
Avoid
- Pre-committing work for absent teams.
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7.3 · Why It Matters Here · Overview
Test the Leverage Against the Real Effort
The third page returns the model to this organization: could the conference materially improve the selected Flow Problems, and would the benefit exceed the investment?
Potential Release Effective Capacity Reduce waiting, rework, handoffs, delayed decisions, and incoherent roadmaps.
Effort Prepare, Run, and Refine Sponsor, interviews, evidence, options, participation design, two event days, and follow-through.
Test Significant Improvement The expected benefit must justify the complete system of work.
Decision prompt Would the expected improvement clearly exceed preparation, participation, and follow-through cost?Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentPreview the investment test that prepares Your Choice.
How to facilitate
- Ask for one measurable benefit and one real cost.
Listen and watch for
- Benefits described only as alignment or communication.
Avoid
- Treating method enthusiasm as evidence of significance.
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Step 7 Overview · Orientation
The Output Is a Decision Basis—not a Sales Pitch
Step 7 equips participants to judge the proposal. It does not require them to agree that a Value Stream Conference is the right next move.
Logic Does the Flow Logic Make Sense? Protect Quality, test feasibility, and improve the system rather than pressuring people.
Value Could the Conference Help Significantly? Shared decisions and artifact updates must address the selected mechanisms.
Choice Yes, Conditional Yes, Not Yet, or No Make reasoning, conditions, evidence gaps, and ownership explicit.
A credible No or Not Yet is better than ceremonial agreement.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentProtect participant judgment and the neutrality of the final exercise.
How to facilitate
- State explicitly that all four decision states are legitimate.
Listen and watch for
- Participants answering whether they liked the presentation.
Avoid
- Arguing for a preferred answer during the briefing.
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Step 7 Overview · Orientation
Continue the Decision Story Without Losing the Thread
The complete path moves from diagnosed mechanisms through three briefing pages into an explicit participant choice.
Before Flow Diagnosis Prioritized, evidence-ready hypotheses about where the system loses Flow.
Step 7 7.1 → 7.2 → 7.3 Definition, preparation system, and organization-specific investment test.
After Your Choice Independent reflection, group discussion, visible decision, conditions, and owners.
Overview → 7.1 What It Is → 7.2 How to Prepare It → 7.3 Why It Matters Here → Your Choice.
Speaker Notes
Facilitator intentClose the overview map with the exact navigation path.
How to facilitate
- Use the Next control to enter 7.1.
Listen and watch for
- Skipping directly to the investment question without understanding preparation.
Avoid
- Treating the overview as a fourth content block.
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N
Begin the detailed briefing
Start with what a Value Stream Conference is—and what it deliberately is not.