# Wardley Maps: Planning Strategy and Delivery on One Map

Author: Marin Niehues, Niehues Consulting · Published: 2024-07-22 · Organisation Design
Source: https://www.niehuesconsulting.de/en/blog/wardley-maps-strategy-delivery/

A Wardley Map is a map that shows which components a product or undertaking needs and how far each component has evolved in the market. It thereby links strategy and delivery, because the position of a component determines whether a company should build it itself, buy it or consume it as a service, and with which way of working the team delivers it. Simon Wardley developed the method and published it as an open book.

This article describes how a map is built, the four stages of evolution of components and the decisions on sourcing and steering that follow from them. It also shows how a ninety-minute workshop produces a first map and where Wardley Maps reach their limits in practice.

**A Wardley Map makes assumptions about the market visible before money flows. Those who know which component is still new in the market and which has become a standard service decide on build, buy and way of working on a shared basis.**

## What is a Wardley Map?

A Wardley Map is a two-dimensional diagram that arranges the components of a service by their visibility to the user and by their stage of evolution. The vertical axis depicts the value chain. At the top stands the user with a need, below follow the components that meet this need, each linked by dependencies: a component above needs the one beneath it. The lower a component sits, the less visible it is to the user.

The horizontal axis shows the evolution of a component in four stages. In genesis a component is new and uncertain, and it is being explored. As custom-built it is made for one purpose and understood, but not yet standardised. As a product (possibly rented) it is available from several suppliers with comparable functionality. As a commodity (also as a utility, paid by use) it is widely available and well understood. According to Wardley's description, components move from left to right through competition and demand, and this movement is the core of the method, because it shows which components are moving towards a standard service, even though the timing stays open.

Wardley worked out the method in his book "Wardley Maps" and made it freely available under a Creative Commons licence. Besides the map he describes general patterns, the so-called climatic patterns, and principles for how organisations behave, the doctrine. The two axes are enough to get started.

## What does a Wardley Map show that other plans do not?

A Wardley Map shows where a component stands in the market's course and what follows from that for delivery. A project plan shows tasks and dates, a roadmap shows features and periods, an organisation chart shows responsibilities. None of these plans says whether the component a team has been working on for half a year can already be bought on the market as a product. Yet that very question decides effort and risk.

An example from AI rollout practice makes this tangible. An application that pre-sorts customer requests consists of several components: the language model as a service through an interface, the connection to the ticketing system, the company's own prompts and rules, and the workflow in the business unit. The language model is close to a product offered by several suppliers, and building it yourself rarely pays for most companies. The connection is custom development. The rules and the workflow are specific to the company and sit far to the left, which is where competitive advantage arises. The map shows that resources belong in the parts that nobody else supplies.

**Stages of evolution and consequences for delivery**
Criterion | Genesis and custom-built | Product and commodity | With Niehues Consulting
Sourcing | Own development or close partnership | Purchase or service paid by use | Build-or-buy decision in the business case
Way of working | Iterative, with short feedback loops | Standardised, designed for reliability | Fitting steering for each component in delivery management
Uncertainty | High, outcome not plannable | Low, outcome predictable | Stop criteria for uncertain parts
Measure | Learning and user response | Cost and availability as well as quality | Indicator with baseline and owner
Risk | A project that never finishes | Dependence on few suppliers | Operations and responsibility from day one

## How do you create a Wardley Map in six steps?

A Wardley Map emerges in six steps that can be run through in a ninety-minute workshop with four to eight people. The steps condense Wardley's approach of user, needs, value chain, stage of evolution and movement. In the first step the user for whom the undertaking is created is named, for example the customer of a service department. In the second step the group formulates the needs of this user, two or three at most. In the third step it collects the components required to meet them and arranges them in the value chain from top to bottom by dependency. In the fourth step the group positions each component on the evolution axis and names evidence for it, for example the number of suppliers or the degree of adoption. In the fifth step it draws in the expected movement: which component will be standard in two to three years? In the sixth step it derives decisions and records them with owners.

Two rules keep the map useful. It covers 15 to 25 components at most, because nobody can survey larger maps. And it stays tied to the undertaking: a map without a decision that follows from it remains a poster on the wall.

## How do you connect the map to delivery?

You connect the map to delivery by assigning each component to a team and a form of steering and by carrying the dependencies of the map into planning. The vertical lines of the map are exactly the dependencies that teams otherwise have to ask about laboriously in delivery. Anyone who wants to change a component at the bottom sees at once which ones above are affected. How work can be coordinated across several levels is described in the article on [Flight Levels](/en/blog/flight-levels-coordinating-work/).

The map offers a second aid for the order of components. Components on the left, with high uncertainty, belong early in the plan because they decide most about success, and they need small, fast steps. The question of what is built first is answered in addition by the article on the [cost of delay](/en/blog/cost-of-delay/). Components on the right can be bought, and purchasing can run in parallel.

The organisation can also be aligned with the map. Teams for components on the left need freedom and short paths to the user, teams for components on the right need reliability and standards. The question of how such teams are cut and connected is answered by [Team Topologies](/en/blog/team-topologies-organising-teams-for-flow/). A model that describes organisational building blocks instead of rigid structures is presented in the article on the [unFIX model](/en/blog/unfix-model-organisation-building-blocks/).

**Checklist for a robust map**
- Is the user named clearly with a need?
- Does each component have a position with evidence, such as the number of suppliers?
- Are dependencies drawn as lines and plausible?
- Does the map show expected movements and not only today's position?
- Does at least one decision with an owner follow from the map?

## When is Wardley Mapping worthwhile, and where are its limits?

Wardley Mapping is worthwhile for undertakings with several components where the choice between build and buy or the order of work is open. Typical occasions are an AI strategy with many possible applications, the rebuilding of a platform and the question of which capabilities a company should develop. For a single, clearly bounded undertaking without a sourcing question, a project plan is enough.

Three limits apply in practice. Positioning is an assessment that leads to disputes of opinion without evidence, so each component needs evidence. The map describes markets and replaces neither user research nor a check on whether employees will adopt the planned solution. And the method delivers its benefit only when decisions follow from it and are reviewed, ideally at each change of quarter.

## Wardley Maps with Niehues Consulting

[Niehues Consulting](/en/) is a consultancy for AI management and organisation design from a delivery perspective, based in Düsseldorf. Founder Marin Niehues builds organisations that deliver, in projects from VC-funded scale-ups to DAX 40 corporations and in more than 20 countries on six continents. Its work lies where a map turns into decisions: in the business case and the order of undertakings as well as in roles and responsibilities in delivery.

The approach follows the Niehues Delivery Model with three phases. For work with a map, two of its test questions matter: Which business outcome should change measurably? Who decides, who delivers, who uses? The entry point is a free 30-minute initial consultation, which you can arrange through the [contact form](/en/#kontakt). The scope and terms of an engagement are discussed in the free initial consultation.

**Conclusion**
A Wardley Map shows which components an undertaking needs and how far they have evolved in the market. Decisions follow on build and buy as well as on order and way of working for each component. Six steps lead to a first map in ninety minutes, with evidence for each position and at least one decision with an owner.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a Wardley Map?

A Wardley Map is a diagram that arranges the components of a service by their visibility to the user and by stage of evolution. Simon Wardley developed the method. It helps to decide what a company builds itself, buys or consumes as a service.

### What are the stages of evolution in Wardley Maps?

There are four stages: genesis, custom-built, product (possibly rented) and commodity. Components move from left to right through competition and demand. The stage determines whether building or buying makes sense.

### How do you create a Wardley Map?

A Wardley Map is created in six steps: name the user; formulate the needs; collect the components and order them by dependency; position them on the evolution axis; draw in movements; derive decisions. A workshop of ninety minutes with four to eight people is enough for a first version.

### What are Wardley Maps used for?

Wardley Maps are used to decide between build and buy and use as a service, to order undertakings and to choose the way of working for each component. They also show dependencies that project plans lack. For AI strategies with many possible applications they create a shared basis.

### What is the difference between a Wardley Map and a roadmap?

A roadmap shows planned features over time, whereas a Wardley Map shows the state of evolution of components in the market and their dependencies. The map answers what is built or bought, the roadmap when it arrives. They complement each other in planning.

### How many components should a Wardley Map have?

A useful map has 15 to 25 components at most. Larger maps become confusing, and the group loses its link to the decisions. If you map a larger undertaking, split it into several maps with clear interfaces.

### Who should take part in a Wardley Mapping session?

People who know the user, the technology and the purchasing should take part, usually four to eight. The business unit and IT bring different evidence for positioning together with purchasing. A manager with decision rights ensures that the map leads to decisions.

### Does Wardley Mapping replace project planning?

Wardley Mapping precedes project planning and complements it. The map clarifies which components are built, bought or consumed and supplies the dependencies. Planning then fixes dates and capacity as well as owners.