Simon Wardley

Simon Wardley
Simon Wardley
	Wardley at the State of Open Conference, 2023
Born	United Kingdom
Occupation	Researcher
Known for	Wardley mapping
Website	https://www.swardleymaps.com/

Last updated December 28, 2025

Simon Wardley is a British researcher and former CEO best known for the creation of Wardley mapping.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Wardley mapping

A Wardley map is a map for business strategy.^[4] It is a strategic management technique used to visualise the components of a business or a service on a two-dimensional map. This helps in understanding the current situation and planning for the future by considering how different parts of the business evolve over time.

Components are positioned within a value chain and anchored by the user need, with movement described by an evolution axis.^[5] The two axes of the map represent:

Y-axis (Value chain): This axis represents the visibility of a component to the end-user. Components higher up on the map are more visible and directly related to user needs, while those lower down are less visible but still necessary to deliver the overall value.
X-axis (Evolution): This axis represents the stage of evolution of a component, ranging from novel and uncertain (Genesis) on the left to well-defined and widely available (Commodity) on the right. The stages in between are Custom-Built and Product/Rental.

By plotting components on this map and understanding their dependencies, organisations can gain insights into strategic decisions such as where to invest, where to innovate, and what to commoditise or outsource.

References

↑ Wardley, Simon (19 March 2015). "An introduction to Wardley 'Value Chain' Mapping". CIO magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
↑ "What is mapping?". Map Camp. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
↑ Mosior, Ben (18 May 2018). "What are Wardley Maps? Using Miro for Wardley Mapping". Miro. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
↑ Wardley, Simon (3 May 2017). "My basics for business strategy". Medium. Hacker Noon. Retrieved 24 August 2021. The unimaginatively named 'Wardley' map is a map. By that I mean it has the basic characteristics of a map.
↑ Wardley, Simon (3 May 2017). "My basics for business strategy". Medium. Hacker Noon. Retrieved 24 August 2021. The anchor for the map is the user need. The position of components is provided by a value chain with movement described by an evolution axis.

External links

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[1] Wardley, Simon (19 March 2015). "An introduction to Wardley 'Value Chain' Mapping". CIO magazine. Retrieved 31 October 2019.

[2] "What is mapping?". Map Camp. Retrieved 31 October 2019.

[3] Mosior, Ben (18 May 2018). "What are Wardley Maps? Using Miro for Wardley Mapping". Miro. Retrieved 31 October 2019.

[4] Wardley, Simon (3 May 2017). "My basics for business strategy". Medium. Hacker Noon. Retrieved 24 August 2021. The unimaginatively named 'Wardley' map is a map. By that I mean it has the basic characteristics of a map.

[5] Wardley, Simon (3 May 2017). "My basics for business strategy". Medium. Hacker Noon. Retrieved 24 August 2021. The anchor for the map is the user need. The position of components is provided by a value chain with movement described by an evolution axis.

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Simon Wardley

Contents

Wardley mapping

References

External links