Wardley Map Creation Skill

Create Wardley Maps to visualize value chains and component evolution for strategic planning.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Wardley Map Creation tasks - Working on create wardley maps from value chains and user needs

• Planning or design - Need guidance on Wardley Map Creation approaches

• Best practices - Want to follow established patterns and standards

MANDATORY: Documentation-First Approach

Before creating Wardley Maps:

• Invoke docs-management skill for mapping patterns

• Verify Wardley mapping methodology via MCP servers (perplexity)

• Base guidance on Simon Wardley's original methodology

Wardley Map Fundamentals

Wardley Map Structure:

                VISIBLE TO USER
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  User Need                                                │
│    ○                                                      │
│     \                                                     │
│      ○ Component A                                        │
│       \                                                   │
│        ○ Component B ──── ○ Component C                   │
│         \                  \                              │
│          ○ Component D      ○ Component E                 │
│                              \                            │
│                               ○ Component F               │
│                                                           │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                INVISIBLE TO USER

◄──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────►
Genesis      Custom-Built      Product/Rental      Commodity
(I)          (II)              (III)               (IV)

EVOLUTION AXIS ──────────────────────────────────────────────►

Evolution Stages

Stage Characteristics Examples

Genesis (I) Unique, poorly understood, rare, uncertain, changing New AI capabilities, novel algorithms

Custom-Built (II) Uncommon, understood by few, growing, best practice emerging Custom integrations, bespoke solutions

Product (III) Common, understood, stable, best practice known Commercial software, SaaS platforms

Commodity (IV) Ubiquitous, standardized, certain, utility-like Cloud compute, electricity, bandwidth

Evolution Properties

Properties Change Along Evolution Axis:

            Genesis ────────────────────────► Commodity

Ubiquity: Rare ──────────────────────────► Everywhere Certainty: Uncertain ─────────────────────► Certain Failure: High ──────────────────────────► Low Market: Undefined ─────────────────────► Defined Knowledge: Uncertain ─────────────────────► Known User perception: Chaotic ──────────────────────► Ordered Focus: Exploration ───────────────────► Exploitation

Map Creation Process

Step 1: Identify User Need

Start with the user's actual need (not a solution):

Good User Needs:

• "I need to process customer payments"
• "I need to communicate with my team"
• "I need to deploy software to production"

Bad (Solution-focused):

• "I need Stripe" (solution, not need)
• "I need Slack" (solution, not need)
• "I need Kubernetes" (solution, not need)

Step 2: Build Value Chain

Work backwards from user need to dependencies:

Example: E-commerce Platform

User Need: "Buy products online" │ ├── Product Catalog │ ├── Search │ ├── Product Data │ └── Images │ ├── Shopping Cart │ ├── Session Management │ └── Pricing Engine │ ├── Checkout │ ├── Payment Processing │ ├── Address Validation │ └── Tax Calculation │ └── Order Fulfillment ├── Inventory ├── Shipping └── Notifications

Step 3: Position Components

Place each component on the evolution axis:

Component Evolution Stage Rationale

Product Catalog Product Many commercial options

Search Commodity Elasticsearch, Algolia commoditized

Payment Processing Commodity Stripe, PayPal utilities

Pricing Engine Custom Business-specific rules

AI Recommendations Genesis Still evolving rapidly

Step 4: Add Dependencies

Draw links showing dependencies:

Dependency Rules:

• Higher components depend on lower
• Arrows flow down and to the right
• Visible components near top
• Infrastructure components near bottom

Step 5: Annotate Movement

Add evolution indicators:

Movement Notation: ○────► Moving right (commoditizing) ○◄──── Moving left (rare, usually wrong) ○ ∿ ∿ Inertia (resistance to change) ○ !! Warning/concern

Wardley Map in Mermaid (Approximate)

%%{init: {'theme': 'base', 'themeVariables': { 'primaryColor': '#fff', 'lineColor': '#333'}}}%% flowchart TB subgraph visible["Visible to User"] UN["User Need: Buy Products"] PC["Product Catalog"] SC["Shopping Cart"] CO["Checkout"] end

subgraph invisible["Invisible to User"]
    SE["Search"]
    PP["Payment Processing"]
    DB["Database"]
    CL["Cloud Compute"]
end

UN --> PC
UN --> SC
UN --> CO
PC --> SE
PC --> DB
SC --> DB
CO --> PP
PP --> CL
SE --> CL
DB --> CL

classDef genesis fill:#f9f,stroke:#333
classDef custom fill:#fcf,stroke:#333
classDef product fill:#cfc,stroke:#333
classDef commodity fill:#ccf,stroke:#333

Text-Based Map Notation

For precise Wardley Maps, use Online Wardley Maps (OWM) notation:

title E-commerce Platform

anchor User [0.95, 0.70] component Product Catalog [0.82, 0.65] label [-10, -10] component Shopping Cart [0.75, 0.55] label [10, -10] component Checkout [0.70, 0.60] label [10, 10] component Search [0.60, 0.85] label [-10, -10] component Payment Processing [0.45, 0.90] label [-20, 10] component Database [0.35, 0.75] label [10, 10] component Cloud Compute [0.20, 0.95] label [-10, 10]

User->Product Catalog User->Shopping Cart User->Checkout Product Catalog->Search Product Catalog->Database Shopping Cart->Database Checkout->Payment Processing Payment Processing->Cloud Compute Search->Cloud Compute Database->Cloud Compute

evolve Payment Processing 0.95

note Custom pricing engine at 0.55, 0.35 [business differentiator]

Component Positioning Guide

Visibility (Y-axis)

Position Component Type

0.90-1.00 Direct user interaction

0.70-0.89 User-facing features

0.50-0.69 Application services

0.30-0.49 Platform/infrastructure

0.10-0.29 Utilities

0.00-0.09 Raw resources

Evolution (X-axis)

Position Stage

0.00-0.17 Genesis

0.18-0.40 Custom

0.41-0.70 Product

0.71-1.00 Commodity

Common Mapping Patterns

Pioneer-Settler-Town Planner

Pioneers: Genesis → Custom

• Explore new territory
• High failure tolerance
• Focus on innovation

Settlers: Custom → Product

• Take pioneer discoveries
• Make them useful
• Focus on product-market fit

Town Planners: Product → Commodity

• Industrialize at scale
• Focus on efficiency
• Volume and margins

Identifying Anchors

Anchor: User needs or market expectations that don't change

Good anchors:

• "Communicate with customers" (stable need)
• "Process transactions" (stable need)

Bad anchors:

• "Use email" (solution, will evolve)
• "Use SQL database" (technology, will evolve)

Workflow

When creating Wardley Maps:

• Start with Purpose: What decision are you trying to make?

• Identify Users: Who are you mapping for?

• Define Needs: What do users actually need?

• Build Chain: Map components from need to dependencies

• Position Components: Place on evolution axis

• Add Movement: Show evolution direction

• Identify Opportunities: Find strategic options

• Iterate: Maps improve with understanding

Output Template

Wardley Map: [Context]

Purpose

[What strategic question is this map answering?]

Scope

[What boundaries define this map?]

User Need

[The anchor need at the top of the map]

Map

[OWM notation or diagram]

Key Components

Movement

[Components evolving and direction]

Strategic Observations

[What the map reveals]

Questions Raised

[What needs further exploration]

References

For detailed guidance:

Last Updated: 2025-12-26