S2 Ep. 11 Simon Wardley – Mapping, Doctrine, and Culture in the Future of Organizing

Wardley Mapping is a method used to help generate a shared understanding of strategic landscapes and their evolution. From all levels – individual businesses, industries, to Nation States and even culture – it can be applied to pretty much anything. And as our adopters know well, Wardley maps are a key feature of platform strategy design. And the person who invented these maps is joining us on the podcast today: Simon Wardley. 

Simon Wardley is a former CEO and advisory board member of startups (all now acquired by US Giants) and a fellow of Open Europe. He’s a regular conference speaker and a researcher for the Leading Edge Forum. Simon uses mapping in his research at the Leading Edge Forum, covering areas from Serverless to Nation State competition whilst also advising/teaching clients on mapping, strategy, organisation and leadership.

We’re referring a lot to the “Wardley’s Doctrine” table - which is linked in the notes. Go to our medium publication to find it: https://platformdesigntoolkit.com/podcast-S2E11-Simon-Wardley  

You’ll hear about why the Economy should start learning from China, why Tech should go serverless, why Businesses should focus on doctrine, and what Simon means when he says Society should have that “We vs Me” conversation. You’ll probably find that this episode is worth listening to a few times to get the depth and breadth of the conversation! 

If you enjoy the show, we’d kindly like to ask you to go to your favorite podcast platform and rate the show. In our ethos to keep all our knowledge open, we want to spread ideas as widely as possible and high ratings help us secure important guests. Thanks so much for your help! 

Remember that you can find the show notes and transcripts from all our episodes on our Medium publication: https://platformdesigntoolkit.com/podcast-S2E11-Simon-Wardley  

To find out more about Simon’s work:

> Website: https://learnwardleymapping.com/ 

> Twitter: https://twitter.com/swardley 

> Medium: https://medium.com/wardleymaps 

> Wardley Maps: https://list.wardleymaps.com/

Other references and mentions:

> Simon Wardley, Wardley Mapping, The Knowledge: Part One, 2020: https://www.amazon.com/Wardley-Mapping-Knowledge-Topographical-intelligence/dp/1913805182/

> Avinash Dixit and Barry Nalebuff, The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist's Guide to Success in Business and Life, 2010: https://www.amazon.com/Art-Strategy-Theorists-Success-Business/dp/0393337170/r

> Giancarlo Gonzalez Ascar, From Intention to Action: A Plan for the Digitalization of Puerto Rico, 2020: https://www.amazon.com/Intention-Action-Digitalization-Puerto-Episode/dp/B08HGTJHJR/ 

> Jonathan Allen and Thomas Blood, Reaching Cloud Velocity: A Leader's Guide to Success in the AWS Cloud, 2020: https://www.amazon.com/Reaching-Cloud-Velocity-Leaders-Success/dp/B086PTDP51

> Margaret Mead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mead 

> The Entrepreneurial Age: Networks and a fragmenting world — with Nicolas Colin: https://stories.platformdesigntoolkit.com/the-entrepreneurial-age-networks-and-a-fragmenting-world-with-nicolas-colin-718c066b19bc 

> Control and Coherence in the New Strategy Playbook — with Rita McGrath: https://stories.platformdesigntoolkit.com/control-and-coherence-in-the-new-strategy-playbook-with-rita-mcgrath-5346fefc7a36 

> Re-bundling the Firm around Problems to Be Solved — with Sangeet Paul Choudary: https://stories.platformdesigntoolkit.com/re-bundling-the-firm-around-jobs-to-be-done-with-sangeet-paul-choudary-af69f7d2bcbb 

> Boundaryless whitepaper (2020), New Foundations of Platform-Ecosystem Thinking — Designing Products and Organizations for a changing world, https://platformdesigntoolkit.com/DOWNLOAD-NF

Find out more about the show and the research at Boundaryless at www.platformdesigntoolkit.com/podcast

Thanks for the ad-hoc music to Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: www.platformdesigntoolkit.com/music

Recorded on 27 January 2021.