How can I introduce #wardleymapping to my team? Part 2.

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:

Figure 1: Two different perspectives of the same set of services.

The diagram reveals that customers usually expect predictable products and services than your team can produce. For the team, this is a tough moment, and what you will experience is a combination of the following thinking patterns:

• standardisation is not possible; customers have unrealistic expectations

• customisations are expensive, customers are in denial

• customers do not want to put necessary work in preparation

• we cannot afford the standardisation effort

• ... (your suggestion will go here; drop me a line on twitter)

It is natural. The team will assume it is objective, whereas the customer is demanding and slightly detached from reality. This point requires you to intervene and explain that there is no right and wrong perspective in this situation and that differences are caused by paying attention to different service parts.

You can use the image below to illustrate the point:

Figure 2: Projects & services contain all sorts of components. It is widespread to focus on one aspect only and lose the bigger picture's view.

That should be enough to spark a heated discussion about what the team can do to make the gap a little bit smaller and reduce customer friction.

In the next post, I will write about capturing the energy and translating the discussion into action items.

Stay tuned!