Value stream mapping has its origin in manufacturing, for analyzing supply chain elements. This technique is adopted in the context of product ownership analysis. Historically, the definition of value in supply chain processes has been either cost or cycle time, but from a POA perspective, the extended product team often decides the definition of value. It may change depending on the product lifecycle.

For example, customer acquisition may be used as a measure of value during product launch and may change to customer lifetime value during the product maturity phase.

The definition of value may be fluid in agile product management and can be a subjective assessment, as opposed to a defined metric, if the product team has a shared understanding of the value delivered through the product.

Product value stream is often defined at the appropriate agile horizon to derive maximum value.

POA Domain	Value Stream Mapping
Applying Foundational Concepts	A tool to gain a broader portfolio view for a group of products. To evaluate the output from one product to determine if it is beneficial to another, which provides strategic alignment for the product to enterprise objectives.
Cultivate Customer Intimacy	The learnings and analysis from value stream mapping from other domains can be used to augment a deeper understanding of the customer, and for evaluating or evolving the product.
Engage the Whole Team	To conduct value stream mapping, the entire product team, as well as cross-functional representatives, must be involved for a variety of perspectives.
Make an Impact	Analyze the flow of product features, product workflows, or transactions to assess the pieces that are valuable for a better product-market fit and to craft a better value proposition. Helps practitioners find the right time to ship product features for maximum impact.
Deliver Often	Plan the delivery of features by analyzing the flow of product features, product workflows, or transactions, to visually show how value is enhanced over time. Helps in effectively planning iterations and releases by taking a cue from visual inputs from different value streams (i.e., where the team is tracking multiple descriptions or definitions of value).
Learn Fast	Contextualizes different KPIs across value streams to ensure that each element improves the metrics and allows planning of iteration and releases that help with strategic, market, and delivery assessments.
Obsess About Value	Applied at different agile horizons to capture the essence of value delivery. Provides more detail than process flows, which takes the “time” element to enumerate the flow of activities. Value stream can adapt to a different definition of value to continuously assess strategic, market and product alignment.