Wardley Mapping, The Knowledge: Part One - Topographical intelligence in business
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Book Overview
In "Wardley Mapping: The Knowledge," we present a groundbreaking approach to business strategy, offering a visual and dynamic method for understanding and navigating competitive landscapes. This book, an essential component of the Wardley Mapping body of knowledge, is a derivative work building upon Wardley's seminal concepts of topographical intelligence in business.
Wardley Mapping moves beyond traditional, static strategic tools like SWOT analysis by introducing a living, context-specific mapping technique that incorporates user needs, value chains, and crucially, the often-overlooked dimension of evolution. The book details a comprehensive "Strategy Cycle" (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act), demonstrating how to:
Observe the Landscape: Learn to create Wardley Maps that visually represent your business's ecosystem, from user needs to underlying components, and their relative positions along a value chain and evolutionary stages (Genesis, Custom Built, Product, Commodity).
Orient with Climatic Patterns: Discover universal economic "climatic patterns" that influence your landscape regardless of your actions, such as "everything evolves," "characteristics change," "no one size fits all," "efficiency enables innovation," and "past success breeds inertia". These patterns enable anticipation of change.
Orient with Doctrine: Understand "doctrine"-universally applicable principles for organising and operating your business, including focusing on user needs, using a common language, being transparent, challenging assumptions, removing duplication and bias, using appropriate methods, thinking small, thinking aptitude and attitude (Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners), and designing for constant evolution.
Decide with Context-Specific Gameplay: Explore "gameplay," a rich set of context-dependent strategic moves you can employ to influence your landscape and gain an advantage. This includes accelerating or decelerating evolution, exploiting constraints, and leveraging ecosystem models like "Innovate, Leverage, Commoditise (ILC)".
Act and Learn: The book emphasises the iterative nature of strategy, advocating for continuous learning through action and reflection, much like a game of chess where each move refines your understanding and informs subsequent decisions.
Through compelling narratives, real-world examples (including the author's own experiences as a CEO and his work with Canonical and government), and detailed illustrations, "Wardley Mapping: The Knowledge" reveals how seemingly random market shifts and organisational challenges can be understood and navigated with clarity. It demystifies strategic decision-making, offering practical guidance for identifying opportunities, removing waste, organising teams, and shaping company strategy. This book is an indispensable guide for executives, strategists, and anyone seeking to gain a deeper, more actionable understanding of competitive dynamics in business
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