Phase 0: Assess on MinimumCD Practice Guide

Value Stream Mapping

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Phase 0 - Assess | Scope: Team

Before you change anything about how your team delivers software, you need to see how it works today. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is the single most effective tool for making your delivery process visible. It reveals the waiting, the rework, and the handoffs that you have learned to live with but that are silently destroying your flow.

In the context of a CD migration, a value stream map is not an academic exercise. It is the foundation for every decision you will make in the phases ahead. It tells you where your time goes, where quality breaks down, and which constraint to attack first.

Baseline Metrics

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Phase 0 - Assess | Scope: Team

You cannot improve what you have not measured. Before making any changes to your delivery process, capture two types of baseline measurements: CI health metrics and DORA outcome metrics.

CI health metrics are leading indicators. They reflect current team behaviors and move immediately when those behaviors change. Use them to drive improvement experiments throughout the migration.
DORA metrics are lagging outcome metrics. They reflect the cumulative effect of many upstream behaviors and move slowly. Capture them now as your honest “before” picture for reporting progress to leadership.

Without baselines, you cannot prove improvement, cannot detect regression, and default to fixing what is visible rather than what is the actual constraint.

Identify Constraints

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Phase 0 - Assess | Scope: Team + Org

Your value stream map shows you where time goes. Your baseline metrics tell you how fast and how safely you deliver. Now you need to answer the most important question in your migration: What is the one thing most limiting your delivery flow right now?

This is not a question you answer by committee vote or gut feeling. It is a question you answer with the data you have already collected.

Current State Checklist

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Phase 0 - Assess | Scope: Team

This checklist translates the practices defined by MinimumCD.org into concrete yes-or-no questions you can answer about your team today. It is not a test to pass. It is a diagnostic tool that shows you which practices are already in place and which ones your migration needs to establish.

Work through each category with your team. Be honest - checking a box you have not earned gives you a migration plan that skips steps you actually need.