Wardley map
Strategy & decisionsField guide · Strategy & decisions · 6 of 6
What does someone need, what chain of components meets it, and how evolved is each?
A Wardley map places the components that meet a user’s need: up the map by how visible each is to the user, across it by how evolved, from genesis to commodity, each joined by a plain line to the components it needs.
| Mark | Drawn as | Stands for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| anchor | the user and their need, at the top | whom the map is for | ch. 2 |
| component | a small circle with its name | a part of the value chain | ch. 2; WardleyMaps.com |
| need | a plain line from a component down to one it needs | “Each component needs the component below it” | ch. 2; WardleyMaps.com |
| evolution | an axis along the bottom in four stages: genesis, custom built, product (+rental), commodity (+utility) | how evolved each component is; all move left to right over time | ch. 2 |
| movement | a dashed red line to an arrowhead | where a component is expected to evolve; drawn here solid, since a dash means hypothesis in this book | ch. 2, Fig. 12; WardleyMaps.com, point of change |
| inertia | a filled black rectangle across the movement | resistance to the change; not in the figure, which has no fills | WardleyMaps.com |
| constraint | a thick black line | a limit on a component; not in the figure, which is drawn at one width | WardleyMaps.com |
A line with an arrowhead
Section titled “A line with an arrowhead”A plain line means needs: the component above it needs the one below, and the chain of needs runs down from the user. A line with an arrowhead is movement, a component’s expected evolution toward commodity. Neither is an effect, a change in one quantity changing another: a need line joins two components, and movement shifts one component along the evolution axis. Wardley also reads each line as a flow of capital between components, each component a store of capital, in his sense and not a stock & flow diagram’s.
A community radio station
Section titled “A community radio station”The station’s listeners need local shows, which need volunteer presenters, a studio, a community radio licence, an FM transmitter and an internet stream. Under the Community Radio Order 2004 such a station is run to deliver social gain, its community given opportunities to take part in running it. The placings are judgements, and the stream’s move toward a utility is the one movement drawn.
When to draw one
Section titled “When to draw one”Draw one to see which parts of what an organization provides are commodities and which are still being worked out, and where each is moving: Wardley began mapping because a value chain alone shows no movement, and calls maps “a communication and learning tool”.
When not to draw one
Section titled “When not to draw one”Wardley’s own test: if a few hours’ mapping teaches nothing new about a business, stop. The order of the work’s steps is a process map’s, which in Wardley’s account has position but no movement. How users meet what is provided is a customer journey map’s, and Wardley calls a user journey “always a good start” toward finding their needs.
Reasoning and polish
Section titled “Reasoning and polish”- User need, value chain, each component's evolution and its movement
- Climatic patterns, inertia, and flows of capital, risk and information
- Doctrine, gameplay with accelerators, decelerators and constraints, and maps drawn wider or narrower
Related types
Section titled “Related types”- A process map orders the steps of the work with no mark for how they could change; on a Wardley map each component is placed by how evolved it is, and its expected movement is drawn.
- A customer journey map can open a Wardley map: the journey’s steps give the needs at the map’s top, with the components that meet them beneath.
Sources
Section titled “Sources”- Simon Wardley, Wardley Maps (CC BY-SA 4.0; compiled for LearnWardleyMapping.com by Ben Mosior, December 2020), chapters 1, 2 and 4, on the map’s basic marks, the anchor, needs, evolution, movement, capital flows, and when to stop.
- WardleyMaps.com, Notation (adapted by Krzysztof Daniel from Wardley’s material, CC BY-SA 4.0), on how the component, dependency, point of change, inertia and constraint are drawn.
- The Community Radio Order 2004, article 3, for the figure’s licence, as read on 10 October 2026.