Wardley Mapping

"A few hours mapping can make or save you millions" - Simon Wardley

A Wardley Map of a business landscape has two axes:

(Y) Value Chain: Shows the position of components (things you do and how you do them) to satisfy user needs and create value.

(X) Evolution: Shows the movement of components from widespread uncertainty (on the left) to widespread certainty (on the right).

Used by leading organisations worldwide

Open source. No license costs. No set up. No lock in.

Faster Execution

Airbnb used mapping to align its ‘elastic teams’ with the Pioneers, Settlers, and Town Planners model — enabling faster launches and smoother scaling.

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Bridging Business and IT

Alfa Bank uses Wardley Mapping as a "universal translator" to resolve fundamental misunderstandings between business and IT and drive innovation.

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Better Decisions

AWS applies mapping to track landscape shifts and make build/buy/outsource decisions — cutting costs and accelerating innovation at scale.

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Strategic Focus

Singapore’s GovTech employs Wardley Mapping to ensure sustained innovation and adaptability and ensure they stay ahead in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.

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Business–Tech Alignment

Liberty Mutual, 100-year-old insurer, used mapping to align business and tech goals — reducing infrastructure friction, unlocking innovation, and cost advantages by going serverless.

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Government Digital Strategy

The UK Government Digital Service used Wardley Mapping to develop its technology strategy, creating visual maps that helped align teams and make informed decisions about building, buying or reusing technology components.

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Validating Situational Awareness

Researchers from the London School of Economics (LSE) and UCL conducted an academic study confirming the effectiveness of mapping for building situational awareness in complex service ecosystems.

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Problem Solving

Maersk used mapping to transform how its engineers work — removing system bottlenecks that led to faster delivery, fewer headaches, and a greater focus on what really matters.

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Scaling a Digital Bank

One of the world's largest digital banks with 90 million customers, uses Wardley Mapping to guide its massive technical strategy and international expansion. The company applies mapping principles to navigate the complexity of operating at scale while maintaining speed and efficiency.

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Strategic Clarity

A Swiss government agency used Wardley Mapping to cut through the complexity of its technology portfolio. The maps created a visual, evidence-based foundation for strategic decisions, aligning leadership and justifying a shift towards modern, user-centric platforms.

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Outmanoeuvre Rivals

Simon Wardley used maps to out-manoeuvre larger rivals. Ubuntu’s share grew from 2% to 70% in 18 months — with just £500k investment — by playing in spaces others couldn’t see.

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Mapping for Startups

An accelerator uses Wardley mapping to help startups identify priorities and turn rivals into partners, so the startup focuses on providing what is high value to customers.

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Competitive Advantage

The World Economic Forum uses Wardley Mapping to help leaders identify converging technologies and orchestrate ecosystems, so they can create competitive advantage.

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Deeper dive into Wardley Mapping

Part 1

Why map your landscape

Part 2

Being agile vs using Agile

Part 3

Anticipate change

Part 4

Shape the landscape