Wardley Mapping - Mastery of Maneuvers

In this series of articles, we will explore Wardley Mapping and its effective approach to understanding an organization’s landscape, guiding us towards the land of opportunities!

Maps serve as visual representations of our mental models and illustrate how they expand within complex, evolving systems.

Let’s embark on this journey together, mapping and tuning in to the melodious rhythm of our ecosystems!

Ponder and deliberate before you make your move. He will conquer who has learned the artifice of deviation. Such is the art of maneuvering. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Most products become a laughing stock in the market because of their poor cut-copy-paste strategies. This is due to a lack of market fit and not providing a unique value proposition to users.

In his insightful book, "???? ????????????*?? ????????????????", Alex M H Smith wonderfully articulates that

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Unique value is value that your customer cannot get from anywhere else. The market doesn't reward better; it only rewards different. 'Only' is better than 'best!

Creating a meaningful strategy and making a powerful move is not an easy job. It requires a profound understanding of our capabilities, competitors, and the market landscape. Moreover, everything is interconnected and dynamically evolving. Therefore, it needs a visual approach to capture not only the components but also their evolving states.

There is a lot to learn from the military, such as Mission Commands. Strategy is one of the key and most important elements where we can gain insights from military combat. As a Business Transformation coach, I am always keen to understand the system because it is essential to design an adaptive flow system.

While searching for an approach to help visualize the system and understand its evolving landscape, I discovered Wardley Mapping. Simon Wardley , one of the great leaders, drew his inspiration for making strategic decisions from the book "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu.

Simon Wardley highlighted the crucial role of topographical intelligence in many battles, using the example of Themistocles. He described how Themistocles leveraged his understanding of the environment to block off the straits of Artemisium, redirecting the Persian army along the coastal road into the narrow pass of Thermopylae, known as the "Hot Gates." In this challenging terrain, 4,000 Greeks managed to hold back a Persian force of 170,000 for several days, allowing the other Greek city-states time to prepare. This story is famously depicted in the tale of King Leonidas and the "three hundred" Spartans.

It also reminds me of the ancient Kurukshetra War, or Mahabharata War, which was one of the largest battles in human history.

Chakravuyh - The Menacing Maze

On the thirteenth day of the Kurukshetra war, the Kaurava army deployed the formidable Chakravyuh - is a Sanskrit word that means "circular battle formation" or "circular trap". It's also known as Padmavyuha, which means "labyrinth of a lotus", because the formation resembles a lotus when viewed from above. It is a multi-tiered defensive structure resembling a rotating disc. This tactic, orchestrated by Dronacharya, aimed to capture key targets by creating an increasingly challenging battle environment.

The Chakravyuh, considered one of the most brilliant military tactics of all time, was akin to a Classical 7 circuit labyrinth. Its movement was synchronized by drumbeats, ensuring a consistent and impenetrable maze of soldiers. Fallen soldiers were quickly replaced through a sliding motion to maintain the formation's integrity.

Abhimanyu, son of Arjuna and Subhadra, recognized his chance to make a mark and bravely entered the Chakravyuh. Despite his incomplete knowledge—having learned only the entry method while in his mother's womb—Abhimanyu managed to dismantle the formation from within. His valor forced Dronacharya to order a simultaneous strike, ultimately leading to Abhimanyu's death. Nonetheless, Abhimanyu's innovative approach successfully disrupted the Chakravyuh, marking his legendary and tragic place in the Mahabharata

Why do we dive so deeply into the story of Abhimanyu and the Chakravyuh?

How is it related to strategy and Wardley Mapping?

Let's draw parallels between the Chakravyuh and today's business strategy formulation.

Strategy is about understanding the landscape, which is continuously changing, similar to the continuous motion of the Chakravyuh maze!

We all become Abhimanyu and get trapped in the complex maze if we do not know our capabilities, competitors, user needs, the evolving nature of the market, and our purpose. Our strategy becomes toothless and can even lead to our downfall!

This is where the systems-first Wardley Mapping comes to our rescue and guides us in making informed decisions.

Definition:

Wardley Mapping?/w?rdlē mapping/ (verb)

The process of making strategic decisions (leadership) based on the?purpose?(“the game”), a description of the competitive?landscape (represented by a map), the external forces acting on the landscape (climate), and the training of your people (doctrine).

For Simon, Sun Tzu’s five factors—Purpose, Landscape, Climate, Doctrine, and Leadership—are essential for strategic decision-making.

• Purpose: Defines the mission driving the organization.
• Landscape: Describes the competitive market environment.
• Climate: Refers to uncontrollable external forces and trends.
• Doctrine: Includes universal principles and best practices.
• Leadership: Involves strategic decision-making and guiding the organization toward its goals.

Wardley Mapping is based on the idea that we make better decisions when we understand:

• Who benefits from our work,
• What those benefits are, and
• The system of capabilities that bring everything together in the market.

A Wardley Map captures these elements, creating a model of the strategic situation that helps us make sense of it and act with purpose.

We have explored how complex the landscape is and how robust and flexible our strategy should be. Wardley Mapping is an excellent systemic approach to awaken our awareness, shedding light on the darkness called complexity.

Let's expand our horizons by learning more about Wardley Mapping in the upcoming articles and mastering our maneuvers!

References:

https://learnwardleymapping.com/

https://www.quora.com/What-exactly-was-Chakravyuha-in-Mahabharata

https://www.mythmajesty.com/post/abhimanyu-born-for-greatness-a-tale-from-mahabharat

https://blogmymaze.wordpress.com/2013/09/01/how-to-make-a-circular-classical-7-circuit-labyrinth-and-seven-new-up-to-know-unknown-circular-7-circuit-labyrinths-in-sand/

My hearty thanks to all my well-wishers Katrijn van Oudheusden Gab Ciminelli Mohammad Umar Farooq Sairam Venkataraman Dr.Viswanatha Sivam Krishnamurthy Karolin Helbig Steve Tendon for the continuous encouragement.

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