Value Stream Mapping, as a tool to continuous improvement, provides some of the most powerful and important information a project team can capture during the planning stages for a project. Regardless of the improvement methodology— whether it’s Lean, Six Sigma, reengineering, or total quality management—the data and ideas that come from these maps can, and should, quickly jump-start a project. The tool itself relies on observation and speed. Observing what is actually happening, documenting what you see, and presenting the results is powerful all on its own. Yet, when you or the project team can perform this exercise at a near breakneck speed, the momentum that is gained is priceless. Seeing the current state transformed on paper into a future-state vision in less than two days will almost always capture people’s attention and generate excitement from those seeking positive change to the process they live in. Even though there may be agreement on how to create the Value Stream Map set, many mappers and project teams struggle when it comes to connecting the actual mapping work to an action plan. Nevertheless, developing the action plan, or a project outline that includes all process improvement tasks, is equally important—and it should be completed at the same fast-paced speed used when capturing the current state and creating the vision for the future. All actions added to the plan should be focused on improving the process by eliminating waste. This chapter describes how to select tasks for the action plan, as well as how to structure the plan. The secret lies in how you and the project team use the Future State Map to develop this action plan. Remembering that the Future State Map is the blueprint