Project to Product: How to Survive and Thrive in the Age of Digital Disruption with the Flow Framework
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- Create Date：2021-03-12 03:17:56
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：Mik Kersten
- ISBN：B07F3DJMZ1
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Summary
As startups disrupt every market， the software complexity crisis continues to undermine large organizations’ ability to compete。 Mastering large-scale software delivery will define the economic landscape of the 21st century， just as mass production defined the landscape in the 20th。 Unfortunately， business and technology leaders outside of the tech giants are woefully ill-equipped to solve the problems posed by digital transformation。 A new approach is needed。
In Project to Product， value stream network pioneer and technology leader Dr。 Mik Kersten introduces the Flow Framework。 This new way of building an infrastructure for innovation will change the way enterprises think about software delivery， enabling every organization the opportunity to win a portion of the $18。5 trillion （IDC） that will be created annually through better software delivery。
Project to Product provides leaders the missing framework needed to create the technology equivalent of an advanced manufacturing line， across thousands of IT professionals， and enables optimizing value creation across the entire organization。 This book is ideal for C-suite leadership and IT management at every level。
In Project to Product， value stream network pioneer and technology leader Dr。 Mik Kersten introduces the Flow Framework。 This new way of building an infrastructure for innovation will change the way enterprises think about software delivery， enabling every organization the opportunity to win a portion of the $18。5 trillion （IDC） that will be created annually through better software delivery。
Project to Product provides leaders the missing framework needed to create the technology equivalent of an advanced manufacturing line， across thousands of IT professionals， and enables optimizing value creation across the entire organization。 This book is ideal for C-suite leadership and IT management at every level。
Reviews
Chris
，
I'm a big fan of Mik's and this book， lots of great insight and thoughts around modern practice of using products and value streams to drive business value rather than obsession over technology / cost or other levels that don't make sense unless aligned you meaningful outcomes the product manager and business can understand。 I'm a big fan of Mik's and this book， lots of great insight and thoughts around modern practice of using products and value streams to drive business value rather than obsession over technology / cost or other levels that don't make sense unless aligned you meaningful outcomes the product manager and business can understand。 。。。more
Mandeep
，
I enjoyed the book。 The stories were what made the book better， I learn better by seeing and/or having it apply to a real world scenario。I am a product manager and this has helped me get an idea on how to tackle my value streams。 It has helped me see things differently and given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my every day job。The feedback I would give is the last chapter was by far the most important。 I wish there were more real examples of how the flow framework can be applied。 I will do m I enjoyed the book。 The stories were what made the book better， I learn better by seeing and/or having it apply to a real world scenario。I am a product manager and this has helped me get an idea on how to tackle my value streams。 It has helped me see things differently and given me a lot of ideas on how to improve my every day job。The feedback I would give is the last chapter was by far the most important。 I wish there were more real examples of how the flow framework can be applied。 I will do my own supplemental research to learn more about it。 。。。more
Rory Lynch
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Thoroughly confusing and doesn't stand alone well。 It feels like it's meant to be read after Principles of Product Development Flow， but doesn't make that explicit。 That said， I think this was probably a good book， I'll just have to reread it with the relevant context。 Thoroughly confusing and doesn't stand alone well。 It feels like it's meant to be read after Principles of Product Development Flow， but doesn't make that explicit。 That said， I think this was probably a good book， I'll just have to reread it with the relevant context。 。。。more
Jack Coates
，
Boring and facile， like the average book of its ilk。 These are designed to sell consulting services， after all。 It’s not wrong， it’s just a lot of words to wrestle with intangible questions。。。 so it’s not right either。 The BMW anecdotes were interesting。
Tristan Greaves
，
There's some good ideas here in terms of how product-based development is more valuable than project-based development。 We've seen that before， of course， but there are some good examples。 The Value Stream Network is pitched as a method of tracking that value from the genesis of an idea all the way to showing the business value。 The book uses BMW's car manufacturing lines as a example of Best Practice in its key case study， but then right at the end of the book， says "。。。。 but software developme There's some good ideas here in terms of how product-based development is more valuable than project-based development。 We've seen that before， of course， but there are some good examples。 The Value Stream Network is pitched as a method of tracking that value from the genesis of an idea all the way to showing the business value。 The book uses BMW's car manufacturing lines as a example of Best Practice in its key case study， but then right at the end of the book， says "。。。。 but software development is different， so this doesn't really fit"。 The linkage is weak -- the point seemed to simply be how important it is to be able to see the value of what you are doing at every point。 That really did not need so many words （multiple references throughout the book） to say。The main issue is that there is precious little information on how to actually _implement_ what the author is proposing。 It explains at the end what a Value Stream Network is， and how it ties everything together， but deliberately says that the technical information on how to implement it is out of scope。 It comes across as a sales pitch: Here's the intro， now use my company to help you implement it。 。。。more
Rebecca Long
，
Anyone involved in building software， especially if you are in a leadership role， should read this book。
Bram Wijns
，
Good read！ I really liked the framework itself but am left behind with some questions。 The theory itself is solid and many of the problems that are discussed are very recognizable。 But I'm missing some more practical example on how to actually do it。 For example how should artifacts be mapped？ Good read！ I really liked the framework itself but am left behind with some questions。 The theory itself is solid and many of the problems that are discussed are very recognizable。 But I'm missing some more practical example on how to actually do it。 For example how should artifacts be mapped？ 。。。more
Hugo Brisson
，
Good perspective on the importance of aligning development work around the "value stream" of products instead of traditional project management。The author makes a solid case in favor of ditching traditional milestone-oriented projects towards business value creation， referred as Product Management in the book。This is a book that gets more relevant the higher you go in the management layers， probably would feel way too high level or not actionable for the "makers" devs/testers/leads。 Good perspective on the importance of aligning development work around the "value stream" of products instead of traditional project management。The author makes a solid case in favor of ditching traditional milestone-oriented projects towards business value creation， referred as Product Management in the book。This is a book that gets more relevant the higher you go in the management layers， probably would feel way too high level or not actionable for the "makers" devs/testers/leads。 。。。more
Isaac Perez Moncho
，
It feels like a rebranding of many known and used agile， lean， product-focused， DevOps practices。 If you are new to the field， it may be a good introduction， but if you know about it already， it is not very useful。
Wilhelm Eklund
，
This should be mandatory knowledge for any C-level executive。Making the inner dynamic of software development visible to the business side of companies is crucial to making good decisions。This book has given me many good ideas including how to explain technical debt and why it is a priority。
Mrs Liz
，
I couldn't finish this one。 I felt there was too much comparison to examples in his life connected to manufacturing。 I get the link， but was more about what he'd seen elsewhere than the learnings he'd found and how to translate this to other scenarios。 I found it difficult to follow and stopped forcing the need to keep listening。 Maybe it would have been better read than listened to， but this one just didn't keep my attention and I didn't feel my time would have been rewarded， so gave up。 I couldn't finish this one。 I felt there was too much comparison to examples in his life connected to manufacturing。 I get the link， but was more about what he'd seen elsewhere than the learnings he'd found and how to translate this to other scenarios。 I found it difficult to follow and stopped forcing the need to keep listening。 Maybe it would have been better read than listened to， but this one just didn't keep my attention and I didn't feel my time would have been rewarded， so gave up。 。。。more
Johnny
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A great writeup of the authors visit of the BMW Leipzig plant and how BMW organize an efficient car production。 Unfortunately， that part is only the scaffolding the author uses to explain his epiphany on creating software products。 Throughout the book I felt that too little time had passed between that epiphany and the writing of the book。 This results in unconvincing examples and a much dryer writing style when the author explains his framework。 Around the middle of the book I focused on the pl A great writeup of the authors visit of the BMW Leipzig plant and how BMW organize an efficient car production。 Unfortunately， that part is only the scaffolding the author uses to explain his epiphany on creating software products。 Throughout the book I felt that too little time had passed between that epiphany and the writing of the book。 This results in unconvincing examples and a much dryer writing style when the author explains his framework。 Around the middle of the book I focused on the plant visit and skipped the rest。 。。。more
Tomasz Maj
，
Together with Phoenix Project， Lean Startup my favorite book on building great products， through amazing teams， small batch sizes and measuring everything。
Jacy
，
In principle， Project to Product bears the mantle of the revamp-your-business genre， of which Traction and Principles stand out as its peers。 What Lean Startup could offer a tech company in the Bay Area， P2P promises for an enterprise business funneling hundreds of thousands into its IT department。 The core of Kersten's proposal coheres to the readily evident: the tech giants easily moves into new industries despite being rooted in software development; every other business， even fintech compani In principle， Project to Product bears the mantle of the revamp-your-business genre， of which Traction and Principles stand out as its peers。 What Lean Startup could offer a tech company in the Bay Area， P2P promises for an enterprise business funneling hundreds of thousands into its IT department。 The core of Kersten's proposal coheres to the readily evident: the tech giants easily moves into new industries despite being rooted in software development; every other business， even fintech companies worth tens of billions， cannot seem to land a tech transformation。 Kersten builds upon this foundation， and for what it is worth， he delivers on his promise to analyze and diagnose the contributing problems。To a degree， P2P presents perhaps the most viable solution for these problems to date。 This is in spite of its structure and content， not because of it。 The initial chapters lay bare both the highs and lows of P2P， both of which metastasize in distinct ways throughout the rest of the book。 For its highs， P2P indeed recognizes a critical failure in the siloing of tech from business results， wherein value stream visualization （in theory） integrates these results。 Kersten clearly understands the issue and his "epiphanies" shore in the heady aspects of the book。 The basis of the Flow Framework， as is discussed towards the end， takes as truth that the manufacturing process of software functions as a network rather than an assembly line。 For the purpose of scaling software delivery and tech integration， this sort of thinking goes a long way and gets further down the field than any past framework。The lows， however， hinder P2P and prevent the Flow Framework， the true soul and thesis of this work， from ever really landing。 Given my experience in economics， I have some bias against Perez and her "paradigm shift" model extrapolated from Schumpeter's work in entrepreneurship， as I find the prediction of "turning points" as fruitless and self-aggrandizing quackery。 Such things suit NYT bestsellers without any actual skills or expertise， e。g。 Malcolm Gladwell。 I would not claim this model is inherently fraudulent， though skepticism is warranted。Beyond the problems in its Turning Point philosophy， the structure of P2P fails to properly bring to port its Flow Framework。 The abstractions of the Flow metrics leave it suspended in the air like a phantom， without flesh and blood to practically apply it to real business results。 Mere examples would suffice in some instances， further explanation for others; unfortunately， neither are provided。 In addition， discussion of the Flow Framework proper begins roughly 85% into the book。 Even if such a thing were introduced with considerations for its salience， I cannot fathom how the very core to P2P， and TaskTop as a whole， relegates itself to less than 20 pages wherein Kersten prioritizes toolchains and artifact networks over the connection to real value produced。Of all its issues， P2P disappoints the most as a shareable work。 Unless the reader is versed in IT and business tech， reading this book is impossible。 For a book highlighting the lack of structural integrity in the disparate silos of business management and IT， P2P remains disconnected in its IT terms。 I do not expect basic concepts like DevOps and Agile to be expounded upon at the detriment of focus and direction。 However， the weakness in its reliance on IT understanding means that P2P will inevitably become an additional frustration for a business。 The IT director will purchase a copy for the vice president， and it will remain on a shelf in his office; when asked about it， the VP will reply: "I liked the first part。"My rating for P2P is based more on the truths espoused in its pages than its deliverables。 I would suggest a copy for yourself， though sharing it will likely go nowhere。 。。。more
Michael Vaughan
，
Really great concept for thinking about software products。 I feel the content is a little too abstract to turn around apply the principles on your own l。 Perhaps including a case study of going through the exercise on a software product would be helpful。
Kaspars Koo
，
Really enjoyed this one。 It's divided in 3 parts。The 1st part looks at the Kondatrief's 5 waves of innovation: 1。 Industrial revolution 2。 Age of railways and steel 3。 Electrification 4。 Age of oil， highways， and mass production 5。 Age of IT & digital transformation。 Each of these waves have transformed the economies at the times and the author argues that we are in the middle of that 5th wave that will transform our current economy。 We already have seen industry after industry being disrupted （ Really enjoyed this one。 It's divided in 3 parts。The 1st part looks at the Kondatrief's 5 waves of innovation: 1。 Industrial revolution 2。 Age of railways and steel 3。 Electrification 4。 Age of oil， highways， and mass production 5。 Age of IT & digital transformation。 Each of these waves have transformed the economies at the times and the author argues that we are in the middle of that 5th wave that will transform our current economy。 We already have seen industry after industry being disrupted （taxis， hotels， advertisement， news etc。）， but the winners still can change because we still haven't arrived at the turning point。The 2nd part offers the Flow Framework that helps to structure the company according to the value streams a。k。a。 products。 If your company wants to survive this 5th wave， this is how you should be looking at what value your company creates for your customers。 There is a set of metrics for each value stream that can be measured and each value stream is connected with business objectives and metrics。The 3rd part describes the Value Stream Networks a。k。a。 what tools， artifacts， and processes you need to enable the organization to ensure a fast flow of value to your customers and fast feedback back from them to further improve your value proposition。 。。。more
Austin Barrett
，
I think this book is a bit overhyped。 Overall， I agree with what it says， but I feel it could have been better structured to get its point across。 Beyond that， it seemed to drag on， never getting to its point （although there were plenty of interesting tangential insights and examples along the way）。 The beginning felt like it was building up suspense for what the flow framework was， and then at some point it just switched to winding down and reflecting on the flow framework without at any point I think this book is a bit overhyped。 Overall， I agree with what it says， but I feel it could have been better structured to get its point across。 Beyond that， it seemed to drag on， never getting to its point （although there were plenty of interesting tangential insights and examples along the way）。 The beginning felt like it was building up suspense for what the flow framework was， and then at some point it just switched to winding down and reflecting on the flow framework without at any point obviously stating what it was。 It’s almost like it sneakily covered the details of it over a long period。 I would have liked to start with the basics of what the flow framework is before all the anecdotes and details。 Perhaps the diagrams were meant to show that， but I was only able to understand a few of them， after I already understood what it was trying to convey。I did get value out of reading the book， and I’m glad I ready it， but it was not enjoyable to read， and I’m more so glad it’s over。 。。。more
Fayssal El Mofatiche
，
I think the author‘s ideas of the disconnect between the business and IT are spot-on， and the flow framework is definitely very useful and brings some good ways to make sure both organizational demand and supply are aligned in terms of software delivery。 Unfortunately， I found the book extremely repetitive and could be much shorter。 One could also tell this was the first book of the author。 Very likely， the Leipzig factory tour took an hour or so， but given how often the author repeatedly referr I think the author‘s ideas of the disconnect between the business and IT are spot-on， and the flow framework is definitely very useful and brings some good ways to make sure both organizational demand and supply are aligned in terms of software delivery。 Unfortunately， I found the book extremely repetitive and could be much shorter。 One could also tell this was the first book of the author。 Very likely， the Leipzig factory tour took an hour or so， but given how often the author repeatedly referred to sometimes the same scenes from the tour made it also go indefinitely。 Later on in the book， it was almost annoying to read about it over and over again。 In addition， did the author actually check how the factories of Porsche， Audi， Toyota or Tesla are in order to judge whether BMW embodies the right way of setting up a car factory or not？ 。。。more
Ron
，
I wanted to like this book - and maybe I will someday。 The day that someone proves that problems in the complex domain can be tracked the same way as problems in the complicated using flow metrics。To apply lean manufacturing （complicated domain） concepts to software development/delivery （complex domain）， requires identify a "flow unit"。 I knew this going in and so was curious to see what the author would identify as a flow unit。 As soon as he said that the user story was the flow unit， I lost in I wanted to like this book - and maybe I will someday。 The day that someone proves that problems in the complex domain can be tracked the same way as problems in the complicated using flow metrics。To apply lean manufacturing （complicated domain） concepts to software development/delivery （complex domain）， requires identify a "flow unit"。 I knew this going in and so was curious to see what the author would identify as a flow unit。 As soon as he said that the user story was the flow unit， I lost interest。 I would love to hear from Dave Snowden on this idea of using lean metrics for software development。 The jury is out， but I may come back if new evidence emerges to show that using user stories is the way forward。Up until that revelation in the book that his choice of flow unit was a user story， I was really enjoying it and I think there are some really great points the author makes about proxy metrics。 In particular the story of Nokia's "successful" agile transformation。 Agile， for the sake of agile， is not a silver bullet to success。 Scrum isn't going to fix your problems when they are business problems。 。。。more
Andrew Anderson
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Stalled out。 Couldn't finish this one - too dense， not written to be all that interesting。 Stalled out。 Couldn't finish this one - too dense， not written to be all that interesting。 。。。more
Scott Daughters
，
Really liked the book overall。 A little bit technical / theory based， but a very good read for anyone in IT project management
Patrick Swadener
，
This book is mean't for high level people who have actual control on companies and the direction those companies take。 This book is mean't for high level people who have actual control on companies and the direction those companies take。 。。。more
Robert
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Great book， with lots of examples。 Took a while for me to get through it all。 The examples were （at times） a bit disjointed， making it harder to connect the concepts。
Jeff Mousty
，
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 This book is an easy read， you could in theory plow through it in 2 days if you really wanted to。 The flow framework itself sounds like a great idea if you can tie everything together， but what i took from the book was more little things here and there。 I also took more books i might want to see if they’re worth my time and others i had already tackled。 The authors central theme is the BMW Group Leipzig plant in Germany。 Which is kind of interesting， because a key theme in the book is how manufa This book is an easy read， you could in theory plow through it in 2 days if you really wanted to。 The flow framework itself sounds like a great idea if you can tie everything together， but what i took from the book was more little things here and there。 I also took more books i might want to see if they’re worth my time and others i had already tackled。 The authors central theme is the BMW Group Leipzig plant in Germany。 Which is kind of interesting， because a key theme in the book is how manufacturing and software are different animals。 So I think he tells you the bmw story because he spent a lot time trying to relate it's efficiencies to software development when he couldn't。 I really like this line in the book that i think emphasizes my last point， "Manufacturing is about maximizing throughput of the same widget; software is about maximizing the iteration and feedback loops that continually reshape the widget。" The four flow items in the framework （think of them as types of work）:-Features-Defects-Risks-DebtsUnderstanding your teams distribution of these 4 items across their defined cadence is key and not each teams distribution will be the same。 However be sure to understand that if debts are never addressed you will end up a product that isn't able to delivered。 Instead it will just have to be thrown out or rebuilt from the ground up。 An example they give in the book is when Apple went from OS9 to OSx it was a complete rebuild。5 metrics to understand at the value stream level-Flow Distribution-Flow velocity-Flow time-Flow load-Flow efficiencyThe book pulls in a lot of material， so if your a reader i would say its worth your time to see how the theories are tied to the framework。 If your not a reader， i think i would divert you to other core material before this book so that you can embrace those core theories better first before getting little pieces here or there。Enjoy！ 。。。more
Mike McGinniss
，
Great readThis book is extremely important for anyone playing a role in transforming how your organization works。 We are moving beyond the industrial and manufacturing age into a world that is powered by technology。 Understanding how to restructure an organization around business value and create visible links to where business activity links to that value is critical。 And it has to be done with a specific focus on how technology and software development drives business value。
Bart Schotten
，
The central idea is really good， but the author takes too long to get to the point。 He weaves in a metaphor throughout the book that turns out not to be a metaphor after all， and then leaves little room to describe the details of the actual framework that the book is supposed to be about。
Roman
，
should have been a blog post
Armin
，
Highly relevant book， if you are either working in a large company or help these companies in their transformation。 While I would have liked to see more concrete examples and tooling suggestions， the book doesn’t promise it and the overall concept is still so enormously important。
Ruben
，
Some good points， but mostly about big enterprises and trying to draw an analogy with manufacturing。 Could probably be summarized in an article rather than a book。
Nikolay Theosom
，