Create, Deliver and Support: value streams and the core practices
The core of CDS
Create, Deliver and Support is about flow: how demand moves through a value stream and becomes value for a consumer. Know that a value stream is not the same thing as a process - it is end-to-end, crosses practices and teams, and is examined with value stream mapping (find constraints, waste and handoffs).
Practices to be precise about
Be able to place each practice: service desk, incident management, problem management, service request management, change enablement, deployment management, release management, service design, software development and management, and continual improvement. Learn the three classic pairs:
- Deployment vs release - deployment moves components into a live environment; release makes them available to users. A change can be deployed without being released.
- Incident vs problem - incident management restores service quickly; problem management finds and removes the cause.
- Change enablement vs release - change enablement authorizes; release exposes.
Also know shift left (move capability and knowledge closer to the user) and swarming (a self-organizing group resolves an issue rather than escalating through tiers).
Traps
Questions often describe a situation that sounds like a process problem but is really a value-stream design problem - queueing, handoffs, duplicated approval. Watch for options that add control where the scenario needs flow, and for 'release' offered as the answer where 'deployment' is meant.
Rule of thumb
For every activity ask: who consumes the output, and what do they need next? If nobody can name the next consumer, the step is probably control rather than value.