In a company, department, or team, we will often talk about “strategy”. This term is rarely well defined, or at least not defined in a way that is useful. It usually means that we need to see into the future to outmaneuver our competition, or at least to navigate a changing market and competitive landscape. Traditional tools are limited in their ability to help us which led Simon Wardley to create maps that have helped him (and now others) to understand the current landscape as well as see common patterns that can allow you to “predict the future”. Mike introduces Wardley Maps, the different ways they can be used for understanding the strategic landscape, and aid in strategic decision making.

7. Looking Ahead using
Wardley Mapping
Mike Clement
@mdclement
mike@softwareontheside.com
http://blog.softwareontheside.com

9. “Does this strategy make
sense?”

10. “I was beginning to feel as
though the entire field of
strategy was either a cosmic
joke played by management
consultants or that there was
some secret tome everyone
was hiding from me.”

14. Our strategy is cloud based. We will lead a disruptive effort of the
market through our use of blockchain and leaders to build a
learning organization. By being both digital first and innovative,
our sustainable approach will drive competitive advantage
throughout the organization. Synergies between our insight from
data and value will enable us to capture the upside by becoming
secure in a collaborative world. These transformations combined
with digital transformation due to our social media will create an
artificial intelligence through digital business and data leaders.

18. topographical
intelligence

20. “Does this strategy make
sense?”

28. How do you
know it’s a
map?

30. How do
you know
it’s a map?
Visual
Context
Anchor
Components
Position
Movement

31. Visual

32. Context

33. Anchor

34. Components

35. Position

36. Movement

37. How do
you know
it’s a map?
Visual
Context
Anchor
Components
Position
Movement

39. Where to start?

41. Components

42. Users
Needs
Capabilities

43. 1 User
1 Need
3-5 Capabilities

44. Conference Attendee

45. Exercise – Identify Components
• Write “Conference Attendee” at the top
• Write a “need” of a conference attendee
• Write 3 to 5 capabilities that may help meet that need or
support another capability

46. Conference Attendee
Need
Capability
Capability
Capability

47. Conference Attendee
Need
Capability
Capability
Capability
Anchor

48. Conference Attendee
Need
Capability
Capability
Capability
Anchor
Components

49. Share your list with your
neighbor (groups of 2-3)

50. Share from the audience

51. Conference Attendee
Charge a phone

52. Conference Attendee
Charge a phone
USB-C Cable
Charger
Outlet

53. Conference Attendee

54. Conference Attendee
Know the schedule

55. Conference Attendee
Know the schedule
QR code to online schedule
Printed schedule
Internet connection

56. Conference Attendee
Charge a phone
USB-C Cable
Charger
Outlet

66. What’s the context for the
current map?

67. What zoom level would be
useful right now?

73. Every component could be
it’s own map

74. “Needs
to”
“Depends
on”
“Needs a”

75. “Needs
to”
“Depends
on”
“Needs a”

76. “Needs
to”
“Depends
on”
“Needs a”

77. Exercise – Value Chain
• Take your list and connect the anchor “Conference Attendee”
to the need
• Relate the capabilities that you identified to each other in a
way that “needs to”, “needs a”, or “depends on”
• Add any capabilities to fill in gaps

78. Share your graph with
your neighbor (groups of
2-3)

80. What’s the context for the
current map?

85. What’s the context for the
current map?

86. What are we trying to
learn?

87. Value
Chain
Visible
Invisible

88. Value
Chain
Visible?
Invisible?
“Needs
to”
“Depends
on”
“Needs a”

89. You’ll probably get it
“wrong” the first time

90. You’ll probably get it
“wrong” the first time…
and that’s okay

92. What about the
horizontal axis?
Value
Chain
Visible?
Invisible?

99. Exercise – Evolution
• Consider each component and how “evolved” it is
• Precision isn’t critical
• Draw a new version with each component with both value
chain and evolution axes
• Add any additional capabilities to fill in gaps

100. Share your “almost map”
with your neighbor
(groups of 2-3)

102. How do
you know
it’s a map?
Visual
Context
Anchor
Components
Position
Movement

103. Anchor
Position
Components
Visual
Context

104. Movement?

105. Movement

106. Play “What if?”

120. “Does this strategy make
sense?”

122. Tool to develop shared
understanding

127. https://twitter.com/swardley/status/1069966904100564996/photo/1

130. https://twitter.com/swardley/status/887066510098919424/photo/1

132. I still don’t get it Mike!

136. Mike’s Book Club
Anyone can join, but the
price of participation is
reading

137. "A map is not the
territory“
-Alfred Korzybski

139. https://learnwardleymapping.com/tools/

141. https://onlinewardleymaps.com/

142. “Plans are
worthless, but
planning is
everything.”

143. “Maps are
worthless, but
mapping is
everything.”

144. Just start mapping!

145. Mike Clement
• @mdclement
• mike@softwareontheside.com
• http://blog.softwareontheside.com
• https://github.com/mdclement
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/mclement/
• Software Crafters Atlanta
• Find us on meetup.com
• Resources
• https://strategy-madlibs.herokuapp.co
m/
• https://learnwardleymapping.com/
• https://onlinewardleymaps.com/