CHRIS DANIEL

I have to admit - I really like how people use #wardleymapping to guide their customers towards a more optimal solution. Just check this quote - the communication boost is real. They had already spent roughly 40 hours in meetings conference calls and stuff like that. And not making any progress. After I finished my map I think we came to an agreement in four or five sessions of an hour. Follow Dave on Twitter.

In my previous post, I have described how to provoke a discussion using a small part of #wardleymapping - the concept of Evolution. The purpose was to demonstrate the value without overloading your team with theoretical (and boring) introductions. If you have followed the process, your team should have discovered the difference between what customers want and what the team provides. The difference should have materialised in the form of a diagram like the one below: The diagr

This is my recipe, based on dozens of #wardleymapping workshops and introductory sessions, and there is only one point: 1. Don't. Wardley Mapping is a big, scary beast that takes ages to learn, and I sincerely believe that you can understand its benefits after putting some initial work in. If you don't believe me, do a small test: with your coworkers, discuss the importance of situation awareness and how to improve it. This is what you will get: This is a chicken & egg proble

Plenty of people consider talking about their image to be against moral rules. They believe it is a domain of sociopaths or show business, and there is little merit in thinking about your boss image. More than that, some people believe that wanting to make your boss 'look good' is a sign of servility and that it stops progress towards a better society. Yet, at the same time, they complain their boss (or, in general, the company) is not behaving rationally and is not doing wha

One of the first observations I made when I started my adventure with #wardleymapping was that maps were not appealing to everybody they should be. Most notably, successful executives were curious to hear about maps but reluctant to use them. It was not that surprising, anyway. If you happen to be successful, why should you even consider learning a new strategy framework if what you do is sufficient enough? That lead me to develop my first hypothesis about who could be potent

People use #WardleyMapping in two different ways - to orient around a particular challenge or to tell a story. Orienting is messy. It requires collaboration and frequent map updates when collaborators identify new observations, hypotheses and patterns. Shared situational awareness is the output of this process, and we get a map as a byproduct. It can look like in the Figure 1 below - very messy and completely unreadable. It is the process of mapping that matters, not the map

"Not possible" should never be verbalised by a #wardleymapping consultant. It makes people defensive and shuts down communication. Instead of using it, ask a question: "What needs to happen for this to succeed?" Then work hard to identify knowledge gaps. Let customers decide how much they want to risk in the light of all the unknowns. #communication

My workshops are most difficult when the group thinks they are one step away from a golden solution. If they were so close, they would not need #wardleymapping. The reality often is that something beyond their control sets the scene and limits their options. And the stronger is the refusal to look into this external space, the bigger the disappointment usually is. Build a discipline to face the external world before you try to change it. #situationalawareness #leadership

In the interview, Steve shares his approach to implementing #wardleymapping doctrine @ Glasswall. Doctrine is the set of best practices for any company to use, and it seems to be an excellent way to start your adventure with maps. Just look at the Figure 1 below - chances are you will not disagree with a single principle laid out there, they seem to be obvious yet many organisations do not adopt them to the level they should. If you would like to help your organisations adapt

Today, I had an excellent discussion about the weaknesses of Wardley Mapping and illusions it may be selling to its adepts. The most significant accusation I have heard is that mapping does not take into the account complexity, and therefore it is unsuitable for building strategies in a highly unpredictable environment. And I have to admit - such accusation is not without merit. I am guilty of thinking that mapping is a crystal ball. When I started my adventure with mapping,