science

Wardley map

Wardley map is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wardley map rather than just read about it. In short: A Wardley map is a map for business strategy. Components are positioned within a value chain and anchored by the user need, with movement described by an evolution axis.

Key takeaways

Wardley map belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wardley map to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wardley map from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A Wardley map is a map for business strategy. Components are positioned within a value chain and anchored by the user need, with movement described by an evolution axis. Wardley maps are named after Simon Wardley who created the technique at Fotango in 2005 having created the evolutionary framing the previous year. The technique was further developed within Canonical UK between 2008 and 2010 and components of mapping can be found in the "Better for Less" paper published in 2010.

Summary Each component in a Wardley map is plotted according to its position in two dimensions:

in the vertical dimension or y-axis, the component's position within the value chain, corresponding to its visibility to the end-user (whether customer, consumer, business, government or other); in the horizontal dimension or x-axis, the component's evolution or commoditization (ranging from "genesis" through "custom build" and "product" to "commodity"). Components are drawn as nodes linked by lines representing dependencies between them. The map is oriented towards the customer or end-user, at the very top of the value chain (and therefore the highest component in the vertical dimension). Directly beneath the end-user are nodes representing the user needs the company seeks to meet, and beneath these in turn are nodes representing components required to meet these needs, and so on. Each component also has a position on the horizontal axis corresponding to its evolution: components to the left are less evolved (rare or not-yet-extant, with higher risk of failure) and components to the right are more evolved (common and standardized, with lower risk of failure). Novel stage components which are highly visible to the end-user are therefore found in the top-left of the map, whereas commodity components abstracted away from the end-user are found in the bottom-right. Much of the theory of Wardley mapping is set out in a series of nineteen blog posts written by Wardley which is a summary of Wardley's previous blog posts . The posts are provided as an unfinished, creative commons book .

Example Imagine that a company wants to set up a new drone courier service. The user need is to receive packages quickly from the company. The company objective is to meet this user need by delivering packages quickly to customers. This is a high-value, low-commodity component and is placed at the top-left of a Wardley map. If there were dozens of competing drone courier companies, this component would move right on the Wardley map, indicating that the service is closer to being a commodity. Other components are mapped similarly. For example, a drone operator needs to be aware of the weather conditions to determine the route a drone should take and the maximum weight it can carry. Weather information is of little value to the customer and can be bought from a wide range of weather data providers. It is thus placed at the bottom-right of the Wardley map.

Uses Wardley maps are used within UK government, with particular interest within the Government Digital Service (GDS) for strategic planning and identifying the best targets for government digital service modernisation. They have been used to map the existing and planned technology infrastructure and services for High Speed 2 (HS2). They have been used to map the value chain and maturity of components in security operations to support a large scale commercial organisation decide to build or outsource their security operations centre, SOC Value Chain & Delivery Models.

Tools A number of tools exist including Online Wardley Maps, templates in Miro, plugins for Visual Studio, MapScript, Wardley Map generator in Golang, MapKeep, Glamorous Toolkit, and Mermaid.js.

Criticisms Simon Wardley claims that much of the process's value lies in "exposing assumptions. allowing challenge and creating consensus" — but detractors worry that the process in fact lets people "launder assumptions into facts, delegitimise challenge (and still create consensus)".

References

External links Wardley mapping resources Wardley Maps (Spanish) Maps & Analysis

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wardley map

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wardley map claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wardley map before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wardley map ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wardley map

In research: Wardley map appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wardley map in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wardley map is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Business models, Business process modelling, Diagrams, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wardley map outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wardley map in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wardley map means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wardley map out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wardley map in simple terms?

A Wardley map is a map for business strategy. Components are positioned within a value chain and anchored by the user need, with movement described by an evolution axis.

Why does Wardley map matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wardley map?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wardley map.