About the Fast Flow Flywheel
Our mission
The Fast Flow Flywheel was created to help organizations systematically improve their value delivery by making data-driven decisions about team structures and boundaries. We believe that better flow leads to better outcomes for organizations, teams, and individuals.
Our story
The flywheel emerged from years of experience helping organizations optimize their structures and processes. We noticed that many organizations struggled with:
- Unclear team boundaries
- Inefficient value delivery
- Risky organizational changes
- Misaligned strategy and structure
This led us to develop a systematic approach that combines proven methodologies with practical tools and templates.
The team
Rich Allen
Creator of User Needs Mapping & Flow Decision Records
Rich Allen is a recognized expert in organizational design and flow optimization. With over 15 years of experience helping organizations improve their value delivery, Rich has developed and refined the Fast Flow Flywheel through real-world implementation.
Experience:
- Organizational Design Consultant
- Agile Transformation Expert
- Flow Optimization Specialist
- Public Speaker and Trainer
Contributions:
- Created/Curates User Needs Mapping
- Created/Curates Flow Decision Records (FDRs)
- Developed the Fast Flow Flywheel
- Led successful transformations
Our approach
Core beliefs
- Data-driven decisions: Changes should be based on evidence, not guesswork
- Systematic process: A clear, repeatable approach leads to better outcomes
- Continuous improvement: Organizations should evolve and adapt
- Team Empowerment: People closest to the work know best
- Sustainable Change: Solutions should be practical and maintainable
Methodology
The Fast Flow Flywheel combines industry-leading practices to help you:
- Align on target outcomes: Gaining clarity on what you are trying to achieve (Outcome Mapping - Flow Engineering - Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis)
- Make constraints beautiful: Propelling questions, exploring path dependence and “We can if…” thinking (A Beautiful Constraint - Mark Barden and Adam Morgan)
- Understanding your current landscape: Identify how aligned your product and engineering teams are to meeting user needs (User Needs Mapping - Rich Allen)
- Uncovering existing blockers to flow: Visualizing value streams and dependencies between teams (Team Interaction Modelling - Team Topologies - Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)
- Find and validate new team and service boundaries: Explore options and quickly validate feasible independent services (User Needs Mapping - Rich Allen, Event Storming - Alberto Brandolini, Independent Service Heuristics - Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)
- Clarification of strategic priorities: Assess how well your teams are aligned with your strategic priorities (Core Domain Charts - Nick Tune, Market Evolution/Wardley Mapping - Simon Wardley)
- Explore feasible futures: Identify your Ideal Future and identify the evolutionary steps to take to get there (Team Interaction Modelling - Team Topologies - Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)
- Build a flow roadmap: Build a list of flow decisions that capture the incremental steps to take to improve flow of value (Flow Roadmap - Flow Engineering - Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis, Flow Decision Records - Rich Allen)
Our impact
Organizations we’ve helped
- Technology companies
- Financial services
- Healthcare providers
- Retail organizations
- Startups and scale-ups
Key achievements
- 40% reduction in lead times
- 35% improvement in team satisfaction
- 30% faster time to market
- 25% increase in innovation rate
Community & collaboration
Community engagement
We actively engage with:
- Industry conferences
- Professional associations
- Academic research
- Practitioner networks
Our commitment
Quality
We maintain high standards through:
- Regular toolkit updates
- Continuous improvement
- Client feedback
- Research integration
Support
We provide comprehensive support:
- Training programs
- Consulting services
- Resource library
- Community forums