{"id":20812,"date":"2020-07-23T09:14:48","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-do-product-visions-become-a-reality-tasktop-viz-a-short-story\/"},"modified":"2020-07-23T09:14:48","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T14:14:48","slug":"how-do-product-visions-become-a-reality-tasktop-viz-a-short-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/how-do-product-visions-become-a-reality-tasktop-viz-a-short-story\/","title":{"rendered":"How do Product Visions Become a Reality? Planview Viz\u2122, A Short Story."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"How<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

I’ve always been curious about the stories behind some of the world’s most impactful technology. Always wondered how profound product visions came to be. Then I witnessed one happen with my very own eyes at Tasktop.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago our Chief Product Officer, Nicole Bryan, called the marketing team, talking excitedly about flight trackers, network activity, value stream flow and a new way to think about managing software delivery at scale. I could hear—nay, <\/span>feel<\/span><\/i>—the whirring noise of her mind from thousands of miles away in Austin, Texas (not that my simple brain understood much). I just nodded in awe. For some reason, I thought I could smell fresh soil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Software delivery work flows more like airline activity than a manufacturing line (Image: Screen grab made from Flightradar24.com on July 27, 2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eight months or so later, the sprouts of this vision began to emerge. A new category called “<\/span>Value Stream Management<\/span><\/a>” was born, with <\/span>Tasktop featuring in a 2018 Forrester New Wave™ report<\/span><\/a> on the then-nascent practice. “VSM” for software portfolios has but one simple objective: To systematically and continuously improve the end-to-end flow of business value from customer request to customer delivery. The end game being shorter time-to-market, increased throughput, improved product quality and optimized for business outcomes to rival the speedy and disruptive tech oligopoly. <\/span><\/p>\n

Later that year, a soon-to-be bestselling book—<\/span>Project to Product<\/span><\/i><\/a> by our CEO and founder, Dr. Mik Kersten—expanded on this topic through a compelling weave of real-life stories and learnings from his, and our company’s, close work with Enterprise IT at Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mik writes about Nicole’s airline network epiphany in his book Project to Product<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was in this book that the vision then blossomed further into the form of <\/span>the Flow Framework®<\/span><\/a>, a pioneering new blueprint that helps IT organizations measure their product value streams through the eyes of their customers and business stakeholders. With book sales swiftly hitting five-figures, it was clear we were onto something that was truly resonating with both technologists and their business counterparts. The concept of Flow Metrics<\/a> provided a common language and measurement that both sides of the aisle could really get behind. At last count, the book had sold over 35,000 copies. <\/span><\/p>\n

Mik (left) is all smiles at SAFe® Summit 2019<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As if blown by the wind, the pages kept turning at a frenzied pace.  At DevOps Enterprise Summit 2019 in Las Vegas, Nicole took to the stage with a healthcare customer to show real-time Flow Metrics in action<\/a>. When the standing-room-only audience made a beeline for Nicole straight after the session, I knew something special was afoot.<\/p>\n