This document discusses reducing the end-to-end time to value in enterprise IT projects. It describes the typical upstream planning cycles that can take 3-18 months and involve various stakeholders. This includes corporate strategic planning, funding approval, aligning solutions with enterprise architecture, and security compliance. The downstream work of backlog execution and development through agile sprints typically takes 4-8 weeks. Three key reasons for long time to value are identified along with proposed remedies: 1) limiting the number of product requests in the backlog, 2) introducing separate review processes for high impact ideas, and 3) increasing resources for business architecture to reduce wait times during design alignment.

1. In search of reducing the End-to-End Time to Value
Deep-dive into
Upstream Value Mapping

2. Corporate strategic
themes, prioritization &
Enterprise roadmaps
3 - 18 months
IT Funding Review and
Approval; Identifying
resources from different
Lines of Business
Involves Business Heads, Product (Application) Owners / Managers, Business
Architects, Enterprise Solution Architects, Senior IT - Executives (Typically VP &
Directors from different LOBs) & Security experts
Aligning solutions design
with Enterprise Architecture,
and complying to central
ARB
Post Production
support and End
of Life
Sprint 1 - n (Dev,
QA, UAT), CAB
Approval, Go-live
Time to Value Delivery Mapping - Idea to Production
4 - 8 weeks
typically
Until Customer
Relevance,
in years typically
Managed by 3rd party IT-Vendors,
Contractors & Service providers
IT-PM (Client Org),
Scrum Master,
Business Analysts,
Developers, Testers,
Tech. Architects,
Release Managers
Support team
(L1, L2 & L3)
Managed by key stakeholders from Enterprise IT (client Organization)
Ideation & Backlog creation happens here
Time to Value Delivery
Backlog Execution (thro’ Agile WoW)

3. Corporate strategic themes,
prioritization & Enterprise roadmaps
IT Funding Review and Approval;
Identifying resources from different
Lines of Business
Aligning solutions design with
Enterprise Architecture, and
complying to central ARB
Deep-dive into Upstream Value Mapping
3 - 18 months
Upstream is heavy or long upfront planning cycles because of 2 key reasons at the enterprises (client
organizations)
1. Risk (i.e.) Manage the risks of going wrong/failure
2. Return on Investment (i.e.) Invest in right initiatives as IT projects are expensive
It is controlled by having
1. Governance process (Detailed documents and Gate reviews)
2. Risk averse security policies
3. Enterprise Architecture standards
4. Maturity models
5. Business case creation (Mission, Need, PM Plan and Projections)

4. Corporate strategic themes,
prioritization & Enterprise roadmaps
IT Funding Review and Approval;
Identifying resources from different
Lines of Business
Aligning solutions design with
Enterprise Architecture, and
complying to central ARB
Reason & Remedy > to reduce the Time to Value
1. Reason > Incremental ideas from different product managers (application owners) crowd the pipeline
/ backlog. Too many requests from product managers (on behalf of customers).
Remedy > Follow the Product Model (i.e. Develop the Roadmap)
2. Reason > All IT projects are reviewed during the regular / planned review meeting
(Bi-weekly/Monthly) and weighed based on the funding.
Remedy > Introduce Incremental (A) and Exponential (B) IT reviews (based on impact and returns)
and have separate teams to work on it A and B ideas.
3. Reason > Long Wait state at the ‘Aligning solutions design with Enterprise Architecture, and
complying to central ARB’. i.e. Work is found but Business Architects / Analysts and Solution
Architects have no bandwidth.
Remedy > Hire more Business Architects / Analysts and Solution Architects to clear the wait-time.
Also, provide them freedom and responsibility to perform.
1. Product Model 2. Impact Model 3. Objective Model

5. Courtesy & Reference
1. Book titled ‘A Seat at the Table’ by Mark Schwartz
2. eBook titled ‘Flow metrics - A business leader’s guide to measuring what matters in software
delivery’ Download here
Thank you