Wardley Maps as a Common LanguageHow Shared Maps Help Teams Collaborate
"Use a common language" is a Phase I doctrine principle in Wardley Mapping, and the language it means is the map. Finance, IT, and operations each have their own terms and diagrams, so they often talk past each other. A Wardley Map gives them one picture of the same landscape, with an anchor, position, and movement, that everyone can read and challenge.
The Problem with Specialist Languages
The "business versus IT" problem is one example of a wider gap that runs between specialisms.
Finance
Finance teams work in budgets, depreciation, and return on capital. The terms are precise inside finance and opaque outside it.
IT
IT teams talk about systems, platforms, and architecture. Others often hear jargon rather than the trade-offs being described.
The Gap Between Them
Each group draws its own diagrams for its own purposes. With no shared frame of reference, a decision that touches all of them turns into an argument about whose picture is right.
Relying on Translators
Many organisations bridge the gap with translators: people who know two specialisms well and carry meaning between them. They are valuable, but there are few of them, and every retelling is a chance to lose detail. A shared map lets each specialist add what they know directly, in a form the others can read.
What Makes a Wardley Map a Common Language
Not every shared diagram is a common language in the sense the doctrine means. A Wardley Map has three features that most business diagrams lack.
Anchor
The map starts from a user and their need. Everyone reads it from the same starting point, whatever their specialism.
Position
Each component sits in a chain of needs below the user. The higher it sits, the more visible it is to the user.
Movement
Each component is placed by how evolved it is, from Genesis through Custom-Built and Product to Commodity. Because everything evolves, the map also shows what is likely to change.
Start Mapping Together
Start with one user and one need. Map the chain of components that meets that need, then place each one by how evolved it is, from Genesis to Commodity. Ask finance, IT, and operations to challenge the same map. Flowcharts and swimlanes show the steps in a process. A Wardley Map adds position and movement, which is what lets people from different specialisms argue about the same thing.
What a Shared Map Lets You Do
Challenge Assumptions
A map puts assumptions on the page where others can question them. This is the doctrine principle "Challenge assumptions" in practice.
Remove Duplication
When several teams map the same landscape, the same component can turn up more than once under different names. Comparing maps helps you "Remove bias and duplication".
Use Appropriate Methods
Components at different stages of evolution suit different methods. A shared map helps teams agree where Agile, Lean, or Six Sigma fits, instead of applying one method everywhere.
Keep the Map Open
Share maps widely and invite challenge, in line with the doctrine principle "Be transparent". Every map is imperfect, so treat it as the start of a conversation, not a finished answer.
Related
Sources
- Adapted from Simon Wardley, Wardley Maps, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Material adapted from these sources is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.