A value stream is the complete sequence of activities and information flows needed to create and deliver a product or service. For an API, that sequence can span design, governance, building, deployment, and publishing. The point of examining it is to deliver what customers value with less waste, not merely to make each team look busy. section 2.11
Start by identifying the value created by the product, then map the work required to deliver it. Lean thinking calls for value-creating steps to flow, rather than accumulating in large batches and queues. Customer demand guides delivery, and the process remains open to improvement. section 2.11
An API approval bottleneck
A process map for approving one new API operation shows 16 working days of lead time, but only 5.25 hours of touch time. Dividing touch time by lead time gives an activity ratio of 4.1%: work sits idle for the other 95.9%. The map makes the delay visible. In one review step, the gateway team must request design changes, then wait while engineers handle other tasks. section 2.4.4
Use the map to ask where work waits and whether each activity contributes to customer value. A low activity ratio identifies room to investigate; it does not, by itself, say which review decisions should be removed. section 2.11 section 2.4.4
