Wardley Maps Community Hub

Wardley Mapping is a technique that helps you examine your environment, identify upcoming changes and properly choose your actions. By examining what is needed, what components will be in use, what are their dependencies and characteristics, you can build a visual representation of your world, play what-if games, and pick your direction and best actions to support it.

This is a list of useful Wardley mapping resources and examples. Short URL: list.wardleymaps.com. Contributions welcome! Contribution guidelines for adding something to the list.

Contents

• Quick Start
• Community
• Reading
• Videos
• Courses
• Certifications
• Maps in the Wild
• Research Papers
• Apps
• Tools & Scripts
• Templates
• Events
• Workshops
• Meetups

Quick Start

• Investing in innovation - How situational awareness can put your business on the map (5:51).
• My basics for business strategy - In 11 diagrams by Simon Wardley.
• Getting Strategic on Peace and Justice - An engaging animation by Sue Borchardt (5:39).
• From Cloud to DevOps to Serverless in under 10 minutes using maps - A basic introduction to change in the IT industry using the concept of Wardley maps by Simon Wardley (9:56).

Community

• Wardley Mapping Forum - A place to discuss everything connected with Wardley Maps.
• mapcamp.slack.com - Join Map Camp on Slack here.
• LinkedIn Group - Wardley Maps Community.
• Mapping Maps Newsletter - Subscribe here. Newsletter archive.
• #WardleyMaps - Join the conversation.

Reading

• Wardley maps - Topographical intelligence in business - Creative Commons book by Simon Wardley.
  • E-book - PDF and Kindle downloads.
  • Audiobook - MP3 downloads.
  • Spanish Translation - Mapas de Wardley. El uso de la inteligencia topográfica en la estrategia empresarial.
• Simon Wardley’s SlideShares - A collection of useful presentation slide decks on a range of topics.
• Glossary
• Wardleypedia - A Wiki Encyclopedia dedicated to the strategy mapping techniques pioneered by Simon Wardley.
• Wardley map - Wikipedia entry.
• Bits or pieces? - Simon Wardley’s blog.
• Practical Introduction to Wardley Mapping - A step-by-step guide to creating and using Wardley Maps by E. Alex Hudson. PDF/iPad/Kindle.
• The Art of Strategy - Sun Tzu, Boyd & Wardley on situational awareness, OODA “Loops” and Wardley mapping by Erik Schön. PDF/Paperback.
• Reaching Cloud Velocity: A Leader’s Guide to Success in the AWS Cloud - Chapter 2.3 Mapping Your Way Through.
• Draw your company strategy: A practical workbook for mapping business strategy - Visual cards reviewing concepts as user needs, climatic patterns, doctrines, gameplays. Revision of concepts, examples and other strategy topics.
• Cuaderno de trabajo para dibujar estrategias: Método y práctica para la estrategia empresarial (Spanish Edition) -Fichas visuales en las que se repasan conceptos como necesidades de los usuarios, patrones climáticos, doctrinas, esquemas de juego. Repaso de conceptos, ejemplos y otros temas de estrategia.

Videos

• Wardley Maps - Community YouTube channel and playlists.
• Wardley Maps on Vimeo - Talks by Simon Wardley and the Wardley mapping community.
• Wardley Maps BarCamp 2020 - Over 10 hours of presentations by 17 speakers.
• Map Camp London 2019 - Watch presentations and video recordings on InfoQ.

Courses

• Wardley Mapping - Learn how to stimulate future ideas and strategies with the Leading Edge Forum.
• LearnWardleyMapping.com - Video chapter summaries of Simon Wardley’s book, 15-minute introductory course, and a quick reference.
• User Strategy Development with Wardley Maps in Miro - Tricia Bagley, Coursera Project Network.
• Business Stragy with Wardley Mapping - Cory Foy.
• Spanish, Acelera tu aprendizaje en Mapas de Wardley - Joaquín Peña Fernández, MapasdeWardley.com.
• Learn about Wardley Maps using Claude - An AI Application using Claude to help learn Wardley Maps
• Learn about Wardley Maps using OpenAI - Streamlit and OpenAI application to learn Wardley Maps.
• Learn about Wardley Maps using OpenAI Assistants - OpenAI Assistant application to help learn Wardley Maps.

Certifications

• GCATI - Foundation in Wardley Mapping. For those who need to know and understand the basics of Strategy using Wardley Mapping either with a view to becoming a Practitioner or with a need to work effectively with Practitioners. A certified Foundation in using Wardley Mapping candidate has proficiency in reading and understanding Wardley Maps.

Maps in the Wild

Blog posts and other interesting examples of Wardley maps. Ordered by date, newest first.

• What do I use maps for? - Simon Wardley lists a range of examples. Jun 08, 2023.
• How to Build a YouTube Video Query AI Model on Wardley Mapping with Python and OpenAI - Blog post on how to create a question & answer application AI app using OpenAI, Streamlit and Python. Full source code provided.
• How to Create a Powerful Chatbot in Minutes with Streamlit and OpenAI GPT-3.5 - Blog post on how to create a Wardley Map chatbot using OpenAI, Streamlit and Python. Full source code provided.
• Twitter thread on Wardley Mapping ChatGPT Prompt Enineering - Twitter thread on Wardley Mapping Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT with many examples.
• Central Bank Digital Currency competitive analysis - Comparison of scenarios between China, EEUU and Europe.
• How Open Source Machine Learning Software Shapes AI - A 4k word summary of Max Langenkamp’s Master of Engineering thesis. September 27, 2022.
• How will cars be refueled by 2032? - By Joaquín Peña Fernández. August 29, 2022.
• Zalando, a Wardley map about how they play the game - By Joaquín Peña Fernández. Sep 16, 2021.
• Those virtual battlegrounds… - Why video games will become a new battleground for the soul of a country by Simon Wardley. Sep 8, 2021.
• Skills as a System the way we use job rolesis prone to bias, blocks innovation, and slows down organisations. by Guy Dickinson. June 13, 2021
• Digital Sovereignty - Look before you leap by Simon Wardley. Oct 22, 2020.
• How to use Wardley Mapping to understand how you deliver customer value - Sep 15, 2020.
• The What, The Why and Some How of Wardley Mapping - A conversation with Simon Wardley. Aug 4, 2020.
• Doctrine or Dogma? - Challenge your Wardley mapping assumptions in a friendly way. Aug 2, 2020.
• How to Introduce Wardley Mapping to Different Strata of the Organization - What is the best way to introduce Wardley Mapping to different groups? Jul 22, 2020.
• Thoughts on ‘value’ in the Value Chain - It is important to understand the need and outcome. It is vital to understand the value desired. Jul 17, 2020.
• Would you survive the loss of your phone? - How to use Wardley mapping to increase resilience using personal security as an example. Jun 18, 2020.
• Estratégia com Wardley Maps - Jun 7, 2020.
• Wenn Customizing zur Legacy wird - Analyse eines ERP-Systems mit Wardley Maps und strategischem Domain-driven Design. Jun 2, 2020.
• Your story never had a chance - Gameplay, fractal patterns, feedback loops, doctrine. May 9, 2020.
• Mapping the blog - Applying Wardley maps to personal blog user needs. Apr 20, 2020.
• Research Skills Framework - The RSF Map and Mapping Kit build upon Simon Wardley’s maps. Retrieved Mar 30, 2020.
• Me versus We - Off the beaten track — pivot. Mar 27, 2020.
• On the diversity of values - On the inclusive and exclusive nature of values. Feb 24, 2020.
• From HS2 to China and … back again - On the changing world of geopolitics. Feb 23, 2020.
• Mapping Alignment - Looking across teams and strata in an organisation and the practices used to meet organisational needs like alignment, reporting, etc. Feb 9, 2020.
• Blockchain brokers trust in a fragmented world - Wardley mapping shows blockchain is following the same maturity evolution as other mainstream technologies. 28 Jan, 2020.
• Some initial thoughts about ERP systems - Jan 23, 2020.
• Structural Deepening - Using Wardley maps to look at the evolution of the jet engine. Jan 5, 2020.
• Map Your Improvement Strategy - Because that expert you hired has no magical bullets. Nov 4, 2019.
• Embedded in memory - Cultural cycles. Oct 2, 2019.
• Exploring value - Values, resilience, principles, enablement systems. Oct 1, 2019.
• From values to rituals - Sep 9, 2019.
• Exploring Brexit - The first rule of Brexit is “you’re wrong”. Sep 5, 2019.
• Exploring Culture - Mapping Culture. Sep 4, 2019.
• Building a working map of Ethereum 1.0 - 10,000 feet view of Ethereum’s user needs and capabilities. Aug 13, 2019.
• What culture is right for you? - Jul 31, 2019.
• An illustration from Gerstner’s book - Part 2 - Mapping “Who Says Elephants Can’t Dance” by Louis Gerstner. Jun 18, 2019.
• Mapping Crypto: Common Pitfalls - Mapping the challenges of launching novel payment solutions. Jun 14, 2019.
• Mapping Crypto: A Primer - Understanding the crypto ecosystem through Wardley maps. Jun 2, 2019.
• Broaden the scope of the SUT - Understanding how test strategies are based on the underlying landscape. Apr 19, 2019
• Plotting a path to a greener web with Wardley mapping - The Green Web Foundation. Mar 20, 2019.
• UN Global Platform - Handbook on Information Technology Strategy - Covers the development of your IT strategy using Wardley Maps to predict the future, understand which methodologies are best suited to developing and delivery information management systems. Download the Wardley map source files used to create the Handbook on IT Strategy. Mar 13, 2019.
• UN Privacy Preserving Techniques Handbook - Two use cases: giving NSOs access to new sources of (sensitive) Big Data; and enabling Big Data Collaborations Across Multiple NSO. Download Wardley maps slide deck. Mar 12, 2019.
• The Art of Strategy - A curated atlas of Wardley mapping examples. Mar 6, 2019 - Present.
• Burja Mapping - Combines Samo Burja’s Empire Theory with a form of mapping similar to that pioneered by Simon Wardley. Jan 2, 2019.
• Research heresies - Three ways to think about user needs and user research and how Wardley maps can help us think about where to do user research. Nov 2, 2018.
• What is an expert? - Oct 31, 2018.
• Rebooting GDS - How to stop the organisation from actively harming itself by focusing on doctrine and spend control. Oct 30, 2018.
• A Platform Design Example Explained - Exploring and designing a platform in the renewable energy context. Oct 28, 2019.
• Understanding Platforms through Value Chain Maps - Why is a Platforms’ Wardley (Value Chain) Map Z-Shaped? Oct 11, 2018.
• Healthcare information technology strategy - How can we make best use of technology to support healthcare? Jul 19, 2018.
• Value Chains - Porter Value Chain Analysis, Wardley Value Chain Analysis and Value Mapping by Tim Manning. Jul 17, 2018.
• Mapping Maturity - Context specific maturity models with Wardley maps informed by Cynefin. May 11, 2018.
• A mechanism for building a roadmap - Using a Wardley map to build a roadmap. Jan 9, 2018.
• Uber, the not so disrupting disruptor? - By Simon Wardley. Sep 11, 2017.
• Blue pill or red pill? - Doctrine and doctrine phases by Simon Wardley. May 25, 2017.
• Is my diagram a map? - By Simon Wardley. May 12, 2017.
• Gameplay for Data Flow - By James Urquhart. Mar 24, 2017.
• Applying doctrine to data flow - By James Urquhart. Feb 4, 2017.
• Designing for constant evolution - Pioneer, Settler and Town Planner (Wardley PST). Jan 31, 2017.
• Near field, far field and the crazy ideas - My future career as a Harmony Designer. Jan 17, 2017.
• Adding Context To The Wardley Map of Data Flow - How do you extract value from the jumble of components and value relationships by James Urquhart. Jan 12, 2017.
• A Simple Wardley Map of Data Flow - Building a Wardley Map from a value chain for “real time business automation” by James Urquhart. Dec 30, 2016.
• The data flow value chain - Exploring a value chain using a basic architecture of data flow by James Urquhart. Dec 22, 2016.
• Thank you Amazon. Boom! Everything in business will change - Dec 3, 2016.
• Something that will change the world of competition - Dec 1, 2016.
• Amazon is eating the software (which is eating the world) - Nov 30, 2016.
• The map is not the territory - Nov 24, 2016.
• Why the fuss about serverless? - Evolution and co-evolution of architectural practice and worth based development. Nov 23, 2016.
• On user needs and listening to customers - Simon Wardley focuses on one of the most important parts of mapping - the anchor. April 11, 2016.
• Evolving Enterprise Collaboration To Digital Ecosystems - Oct 17, 2015.
• The power of situational awareness for digital government - Part 2 Mark Thompson outlines a digital vision to make government a more cohesive, integrated organisation. Oct 9, 2015.
• Time to get mapping - how a blind government can develop sight - Part 1 Mark Thompson outlines a digital vision to make government a more cohesive, integrated organisation. Oct 9, 2015.
• Simon Wardley’s 100-day Corporate get fit plan - For the newly-appointed executive, to help get you into a position from which you can start to learn and talk about strategy. Aug 21, 2015.
• Other tools I use with mapping - Simon Wardley discusses some of the other tools he uses with mapping. Mar 6, 2015.
• Guest post: mapping the way to a strategy - GOV.UK Government Digital Service. 16 Apr, 2014.
• Context, Situation, Components, PaaS, Dead or Alive … it’s all semantics isn’t it? - tl;dr Caveat Emptor. Feb 4, 2014.

Research Papers

• Building Situational Awareness in the Age of Service Ecosystems - Pujadas, R; Thompson, M; Venters, W; et al. March 2019.
• Mapping Practice Papers - A series of position papers published by the Leading Edge Forum. Jun 13, 2018 - Jan 28, 2019.

Apps

Mapping

• OnlineWardleyMaps - Online open source mapping tool. For updates follow @MapsAsCode on Twitter. Hosted version available here. Online documentation Wardley Maps as Code.
• Wardley Maps for Visual Studio Code - Render and edit Wardley maps within Visual Studio Code. This VSCode extention leverages the engine from OnlineWardleyMaps.com. Online documentation Wardley Maps as Code.
• Wardley Maps for Jupyter Notebooks (ipywardley) - A plugin for generating Wardley maps in Jupyter Notebooks.
• MapScript - Note MapScript is built on Observable. Read their Terms of Service. MapScript feature requests. Hosted version available here.
• Go-Wardley - Generates a Wardley map in SVG format from a HCL-based map description file.
• Mapkeep - Multiplayer Wardley Maps at a click of a button. Collaborate on your maps with others. Host your maps for free. For updates, you can follow @mapkeep on Mastodon, @mapkeep on X, mapkeep on LinkedIn, subscribe to the YouTube Channel, or subscribe to the News and Updates blog.
• Glamorous Toolkit - A moldable and programmable environment in which Wardley Maps can be intertwinned with knowledge management and multi language notebooks. Follow @feenkcom to learn more.
• Excalidraw - Online diagram tool creates quick and easy, handdrawn diagrams and maps. keyboard shortcut ‘0’, browse libraries and Add the “Wardley Maps Symbols” lib.
• Flowchart fun - text based tool to generate quick flowcharts. Excellent way to quickly create a Value Chain - very useful in conversation or during a meeting.
• wardleyToGo is a SDK to do map-as-code and a high level language (wtg) to express map-as-data. The set of tools allows an easy integration of the map in CI, and the online demo allows to desing maps online.

Doctrine Assessement

• Doctrine - A simple tool for visualising how competitive a company is in light of Wardley’s doctrine. Hosted version available here.

Commercial Enterprise Platforms

Tools & Scripts

AI

• Learn about Wardley Maps using MEMGPT - Experimental Streamlit AI Assistant bot tuned on Wardley Mapping. Using MemGPT this AI Assistant has memory is divided into three parts: recall memory, core memory, and archival memory. Full source code and data provided in the GitHub repo. Recall Memory: This is my short-term memory where I keep recent interactions. Core Memory: This is where I store key details about my persona and about you, the user. This gives me a ‘personality’ and allows for more personalized conversation. Archival Memory: This is my long-term memory where I store information that doesn’t fit into core memory but is essential to remember. It’s infinite in size, and I usually page through it to find answers to your questions. These parts work together to help the AI Assistant remember prior engagements, learn from them, and refer back when needed.
• Learn about Wardley Maps using Claude - An AI Application using Claude to help learn Wardley Maps
• Learn about Wardley Maps using OpenAI - Streamlit and OpenAI application to learn Wardley Maps.
• Learn about Wardley Maps using OpenAI Assistants - OpenAI Assistant application to help learn Wardley Maps.
• Chat with your Map - Chat to your Wardley Map. It pulls your Wardley Map from OnlineWardleyMaps or GitHub and you can have an AI chat with your map. It’s also got a syntax checker built in. It creates structured output that can be downloaded and used within documents. It highlights key responses that you can follow up.
• Q&A with Simon’s Book - Have a chat with the book Ask Simon’s book anything.
• Research Map Chat - Have an AI chat with Simon’s Research Wardley Maps that are available on GitHub.
• Learn Wardley Mapping Bot - Learn Wardley Mapping by chatting to a specially configured bot.
• Chat with Wardley YouTube content - Have a chat with all of Simon’s YouTube content.

  Development

• Join the Wardley AI Development Group on X/Twitter
• An Exploration into Wardley Mapping Language Code - Create your own Wardley Mapping code editor in two easy steps.
• Convert WM format to Many - A simple streamlit app to convert the OnlineWardleyMaps OWM format to JSON, TOML, JSON Graph and Cypher text.
• Exploring Prompt Engineering using Wardley Maps - A series of blog posts about AI, Python and Wardley Mapping.

ChatGPT

• Wardley Map Analyst - Analyzes and visualizes Wardley Maps from text
• Learn Wardley Mapping - I guide you in learning and applying Wardley Maps.
• Introduction to Wardley Mapping - A quick introduction to Wardley Mapping
• Wardley Map Syntax Expert - Expert in analyzing and fixing Wardley Map syntax

Templates

• Wardley Mapping Tools and Techniques - A semi-serious reflection on the problem space of tools for mapping, and an overview of all sorts of mapping tools and techniques.

Mapping

• Wardley Maps in draw.io - How-to guide with animations and a collection of open source Wardley map icons.
• Office 365 Wardley Mapping Templates - Templates for Microsoft Visio and PowerPoint.
• Miro Wardley Mapping Template - How-to guide on mapping using this template.
• Figma Mapping Template - A mapping template for Figma.
• wardley-omnigraffle - Wardley mapping stencils for OmniGraffle.
• Wardley Maps in LaTeX - Figures 8 and 11 from the book by Simon Wardley to demonstrate drawing Wardley maps in LaTeX.
• yEd Palette - Wardley maps palette for yEd.
• Google Slides Mapping Template - Template for Google Slides.

Doctrine Assessement

• Doctrine Grid Tool - Based on Google Forms and Google Sheets.

Events

• Map Camp 2021 - A virtual event on October 13, 2021.
• Map Camp 2020 - A free all-day online event on October 13, 2020.
• Map Camp - Follow Map Camp on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Workshops

• Wardley Maps Battle Camp - Workshop rules, cards and materials.
• Workshop Building Block - New Year’s Eve Party - Help workshop participants gain confidence in mapping in a business-neutral environment.

Meetups

• Australia
  • Melbourne
• Europe
  • Belgium
    • Antwerp
  • Czech Republic
    • Prague
  • France
    • Paris
  • Germany
    • Cologne
    • Hamburg
    • Munich
  • Netherlands
    • Amsterdam
  • Norway
    • Oslo
  • Serbia
    • Belgrade
  • Spain
    • Barcelona - Organizational Change - Wardley Maps
    • Barcelona - Wardley Maps Strategy
  • Switzerland
    • Basel
  • UK
    • London
• North America
  • USA
    • California
      • San Diego

License

To the extent possible under law, the Wardley Maps Community has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this work.