wardley-mapping

What this skill does

# Wardley Mapping

A strategic mapping technique for understanding competitive landscape, technology evolution, and making informed architectural decisions.

## When to Use This Skill

**Keywords:** wardley map, value chain, evolution, genesis, custom, product, commodity, strategy, landscape, doctrine, gameplay, situational awareness, strategic positioning, technology radar

**Use this skill when:**

- Making technology investment decisions
- Evaluating build vs. buy vs. outsource
- Understanding competitive positioning
- Planning technology evolution strategy
- Communicating architecture strategy to stakeholders
- Identifying strategic opportunities and threats
- Deciding where to focus innovation efforts

## What is Wardley Mapping?

Wardley Mapping, created by Simon Wardley, provides situational awareness for strategic decision-making by visualizing:

1. **Value Chain**: Components needed to meet user needs
2. **Evolution**: How components change over time
3. **Landscape**: The competitive environment
4. **Movement**: How the landscape changes

### The Map Structure

```text
                    EVOLUTION

        Genesis    Custom     Product    Commodity
           ↓          ↓          ↓          ↓
        ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │                                          │
Visible │   User Need ●                            │  ← Anchor
        │       │                                  │
        │       ↓                                  │
        │   Component A ●──────────→ ●             │
        │       │                                  │
        │       ↓                                  │
        │   Component B    ●                       │
        │       │                                  │
Hidden  │       ↓                                  │
        │   Component C              ●             │
        │       │                                  │
        │       ↓                                  │
        │   Component D                       ●    │  ← Commodity
        │                                          │
        └──────────────────────────────────────────┘

        Y-axis: Visibility (to user)
        X-axis: Evolution (certainty)
```

## Evolution Stages

### Stage Characteristics

```yaml
evolution_stages:
  genesis:
    position: "Far left"
    characteristics:
      - "Novel, unique, uncertain"
      - "Poorly understood"
      - "High failure rates"
      - "Requires experimentation"
    activities:
      - "Research & development"
      - "Exploration"
      - "Proof of concepts"
    examples:
      - "Quantum computing (for most use cases)"
      - "Novel AI architectures"
      - "Experimental materials"

  custom_built:
    position: "Center-left"
    characteristics:
      - "Understood but unique implementation"
      - "Bespoke solutions"
      - "Differentiating"
      - "High cost, high expertise"
    activities:
      - "Custom development"
      - "Integration work"
      - "Specialized teams"
    examples:
      - "Custom recommendation engine"
      - "Bespoke trading platform"
      - "Specialized analytics"

  product:
    position: "Center-right"
    characteristics:
      - "Increasingly understood"
      - "Multiple vendors/options"
      - "Feature differentiation"
      - "Growing competition"
    activities:
      - "Buy vs. build decisions"
      - "Vendor evaluation"
      - "Configuration over coding"
    examples:
      - "CRM systems"
      - "E-commerce platforms"
      - "Analytics tools"

  commodity:
    position: "Far right"
    characteristics:
      - "Well understood"
      - "Essential, expected"
      - "Low differentiation"
      - "Volume operations"
    activities:
      - "Utility consumption"
      - "Cost optimization"
      - "Operational excellence"
    examples:
      - "Cloud compute (IaaS)"
      - "Email services"
      - "Payment processing"
```

### Evolution Indicators

| Indicator | Genesis | Custom | Product | Commodity |
|-----------|---------|--------|---------|-----------|
| **Ubiquity** | Rare | Rare-Common | Common | Widespread |
| **Certainty** | Uncertain | Uncertain-Defined | Defined | Defined |
| **Market** | Undefined | Forming | Mature | Utility |
| **Failure Mode** | Research | Learning | Differentiation | Operational |
| **Talent** | Pioneers | Settlers | Town Planners | Utilities |

## Creating a Wardley Map

### Step 1: Identify the Anchor

```yaml
anchor:
  definition: "The user need being served"

  questions:
    - "Who is the user?"
    - "What do they need?"
    - "What visible outcome do they expect?"

  placement: "Top of map, visible to user"

  examples:
    - "Customer needs to purchase products online"
    - "Developer needs to deploy applications"
    - "Analyst needs to generate reports"
```

### Step 2: Build the Value Chain

```yaml
value_chain:
  approach: "Work backwards from user need"

  questions:
    - "What components are needed to meet this need?"
    - "What does each component depend on?"
    - "What components are hidden from the user?"

  tips:
    - "List capabilities, not just technologies"
    - "Include people, practices, and data"
    - "Map both technical and business components"
    - "Dependencies flow downward"
```

### Step 3: Position on Evolution

```yaml
positioning:
  method: "Assess each component's evolution stage"

  criteria:
    - "How well understood is it?"
    - "How many alternatives exist?"
    - "Is it commoditized or unique?"
    - "What's the market maturity?"

  common_mistakes:
    - "Positioning based on age, not maturity"
    - "Confusing internal unfamiliarity with market genesis"
    - "Not considering industry context"
```

### Step 4: Add Movement

```yaml
movement:
  notation: "Arrows showing direction of evolution"

  types:
    natural_evolution: "→ Component moving right over time"
    inertia: "× Resistance to movement"
    acceleration: ">> Forced rapid evolution"

  considerations:
    - "All components evolve rightward over time"
    - "Evolution can be accelerated by competition"
    - "Inertia can slow movement"
```

## Map Template

```text
Title: {Map Name}
Anchor: {User Need}
Date: {ISO-8601}

                    Genesis    Custom     Product    Commodity
                       │          │          │          │
                       ▼          ▼          ▼          ▼
Visible            ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐
                   │                                       │
                   │  {User Need}                          │
                   │      │                                │
                   │      ↓                                │
                   │  {Component 1}    ●──────→            │
                   │      │                                │
                   │      ├───────────────┐                │
                   │      ↓               ↓                │
                   │  {Component 2}  {Component 3}         │
                   │      ●               ●                │
                   │      │               │                │
                   │      ↓               │                │
                   │  {Component 4}       │                │
                   │           ●          │                │
Hidden             │           │          │                │
                   │           ↓          ↓                │
                   │  {Component 5}───────┘                │
                   │                  ●                    │
                   │                                       │
                   └───────────────────────────────────────┘

Legend:
● = Current position
→ = Movement direction
× = Inertia
```

## Doctrine

Universally useful patterns for strategy:

```yaml
doctrine_categories:
  communication:
    - "Use a common language"
    - "Challenge assumptions"
    - "Focus on user needs"

  development:
    - "Use appropriate methods for evolution stage"