Thread by @swardley

X : Why Wardley maps?
Me : Not sure I follow?
X : Why the "Wardley"?
Me : It's my name and I'm not good at naming things? It's also a thank you. Maps took some time to develop, including 8 months hard graft ('06-'07) and a few years to refine in anger at Ubuntu (2008-2010) ...

... all the climatic patterns, most of the doctrine. gameplay, capital flow, organisational structure etc was built built 2005 - 2009. There was a lot of work.
X : Are you still developing maps?
Me : No. The only addition was labelling the value chain but that's just scaffolding.

X : Scaffolding?
Me : Yep, it helps people get used to mapping but you should ditch the y-axis once you get used to it because it becomes a hindrance. It's only there because people kept asking "What's the y-axis" ... it's not real. The value chain is the chain of needs.

X : So mapping is fairly stable?
Me : From my perspective it has been for a decade+. Others are trying to create different forms of maps. My main interest is in use i.e. practice, whether it's my use of maps in my research or working on problems with others.

X : Why haven't you finished the book then?
Me : Lol. I thought this was heading somewhere. I can be quite slow at writing and I'm not in a rush. There's about 600 pages online. I'll finish when I have time. But I also want others to explore.

X : Is there another x-axis?
Me : That has consistency? Not that I've found, doesn't mean there isn't. Remember the x-axis are just labels for stage I to IV ... you can mix labels if you wish, they all have the same characteristics (see the cheat sheet).

X : The cheat sheet?
Me : Yep, it comes from text analysis of the documents I used to test the x-axis. It was the hard graft bit long ago.

X : Why do you need a cheat sheet, can't you just measure how evolved something is.
Me : Alas, the evolution stages are based upon this curve (NB one of the axis is certainty). You can only actually determine where something is precisely once it has become a commodity ...

... in other words, once something has become a commodity then we can measure the past perfectly. But, we can't measure the future perfectly without invoking magic like a crystal ball. Hence, you have to cheat a bit, take a guess, all maps have to contain some imperfection.

... so when you're stuck on something, go through the cheat sheet, ask does it have more of this or more of that quality. This will help give you an idea of where it is e.g. an early stage product might look something like this.

X : But I need to place something precisely?
Me : It's a map, not a graph. There is no measurable y-axis (it's a chain of needs with components further down the chain being less visible to those higher up), there is no relationship of x and y and x is based upon uncertainty.

i.e. it's a very imperfect map. It's also a model which means it's also wrong. But then being imperfect and wrong is fine, as long as it's useful. Hence my interest in practice.

X : But maps have measures as in distance.
Me : We use visibility. You can think of that as analogous to being "further away" ... we just haven't developed a precise measure such as metres. You don't think early geographical maps had precise measures of distance do you?

... now visibility is used for the y-position in the chain of needs (i.e. the value chain) and evolution is used for the x-axis. The problem with business is the landscape changes rapidly, it's not like geography where towns tend to stay where they are during your journey.

X : If you're wanting a better map of business, that's easy. Just wait 30 or 40 years, I'm sure people will refine it and make better measures. In the meantime, if you find it useful as is ... then just use it.

X : This is a great example - but it does leave me wondering just how fancy your kettle is?
Me : And voila, the power of maps is shown. It enables us to challenge assumptions on the map in a way that you can't challenge stories without challenging the story teller.

... you wouldn't believe how much custom built nonsense goes on in business hidden by stories which you can't challenge without a political bunfight over someone's ego. The danger of continually educating people that the problem with ideas is they need to be better story tellers.

.... sometimes the idea is just daft but to challenge it, you need to take the story teller out of the story. The best way I know to do this is to create the map and then challenge the map not the person.

If you want scale, last time I looked into this (and I've no reason to suspect it's different for most companies since) was about 90% of the P&L being waste, bias, duplication, unnecessary actions, making the ineffective more efficient, misapplied methods, un-needed needs.

... however in competition that's fine, because everyone else is useless as well, so no-one gains any advantage ... unless, someone who is a lot less useless moves into your industry and then it's trouble. Big trouble. Unless you can build regulatory barriers etc.

On that note, one thing that really irks me is how people mix up values and principles. When deconstructing Facebook, it's core values (after principles removed) is create social good which by happenstance is also the core value of Gov i.e. Facebook really just wants to be Gov.

hence I suspect the whole (conscious or not) ... let us create currency, let us create our own court system for free speech etc. They are increasingly going to end up in conflict with Gov if they follow this path, so loving the beating they're taking at the moment. Daft sods.

Anyway, either they don't get it or they've been smoking too much of the Ayn Rand. Looking forward to the Facebook Flag and Anthem followed by the normal Gov nudge of reminding people who actually has laws, police and armies.

X : Where can I learn more about maps?
Me : It's all creative commons, share alike. You can always read the book (I will get around to finishing at some point) - medium.com/wardleymaps - but once you get the basics just try it and practice.