← All stages
05
Stage 5
Value stream optimisation
“Does our structure let us deliver effectively?”
The tribe's structure follows the flow of value, not the organisation's history. The tribe changes its own structure to minimise the cascade of delivery dependencies.
Solves
Structural bottlenecks - when the boundaries of teams and tribes don't match how value really flows to the customer or user. Cascading dependencies are replaced by a structure aligned with value streams.
How to recognise this stage
- Teams are defined around value streams, not functionality or IT systems
- The tribe regularly reviews its own structure for alignment with value streams
- Cascading dependencies are minimised through reorganisation, not through dependency management
- The tribe brings learning into the organisation: “we tried X, here's the data, we changed the structure”
- The backlog contains hypotheses about customer needs, tested directly with customers or users - not just descriptions of functionality
- The tribe can turn down low-value work - and the organisation accepts it
- The system architecture is regularly reviewed for alignment with value streams, not just with the team structure
Recognise this stage in your tribe? Let's talk about how to sustain it and what to change beyond the tribe.