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Wardley says “listen to your ecosystems.” There are many different forms of ecosystems and ways to exploit them. You can build powerful sensing engines (e.g. the ILC model) for future change, sources of co-operation with others, defensive and offensive alliances. But ecosystems need management, they need tending as a gardener tends a garden — sometimes… Continue reading Listen to Your Ecosystems

Features feel like Fashion. Some come and go. Some stick around. Regardless, they are small. They move quickly. Features are useful because of how they enable rapid exploration, trend setting, and quick adaptation to meet people’s very real needs. However, they’re not all there is. Capabilities feel more like Commerce. You have to zoom the… Continue reading Features are Fashion, Capabilities are Commerce

This post was tough to write, and I fully expect I got some things wrong. Let me know if you spot an error or a place where I’ve made a mistake. One of the benefits of Wardley Mapping is that making a map invites you to take vague and general concepts and make them more… Continue reading On The Medical Role of Abortion

Early on, I thought there was a paradox in mapping: You can’t know what map to make until you’ve made a bunch of maps! And so the advice became: Just go do a bunch of practice. Maybe you’ll find something insightful then! Well, I don’t like practice for practice’ sake. I am impatient. I’ll spare… Continue reading The Right Question

Someone recently asked me how they could demonstrate the value of Wardley Mapping quickly to their organization. In truth, there isn’t a single way to do it. Since Wardley Mapping is in stage 2 of evolution, it’s divergent. There is no one way to describe the value. (We’re still exploring and learning!) Different audiences see… Continue reading How to build belief in Wardley Mapping in your organization

Why is Wardley Mapping useful? When we work alone, we can only do so much. But when we work together towards a common goal, great things become possible. That’s what organization is all about — 1) gathering people together and 2) focusing their labor. However, if we evaluate today’s organizations on these two functions, we’ll… Continue reading What is the purpose of Wardley Mapping? Part 1/5

Good Strategy Bad Strategy, by Richard Rumelt, is an excellent addition to the stack of books you ought to regularly read. It pairs well with Wardley Mapping, and I recommend both if you want to develop an advantageous, self-taught strategic practice. I’ll spare you my superlatives and allow the book to speak for itself: Having… Continue reading Rumelt’s Good Strategy Bad Strategy and Wardley Mapping

Wardley Mapping can at times have the appearance of being an exact science. In many ways, however, it’s more of an art. Or perhaps several arts rolled into one. #1: The Art of Modeling The first art is modeling — deciding how to slice a vastly complex situation down into its essential parts. In Wardley… Continue reading Art vs Science in Wardley Mapping

I’m very excited to announce that we are launching a new series of Wardley Mapping courses! The first course, Pragmatic Wardley Mapping, covers the basics: Introduction (8:08) What is Wardley Mapping, and why bother? (5:37) Enough talk! (10:20) Turning it into action (4:45) Basic iteration (11:53) Common obstacles (11:51) The second course, Wardley Mapping Theory… Continue reading New Wardley Mapping Course Launch!