wardley-maps

name

wardley-maps

description

Comprehensive Wardley mapping toolkit that transforms any input (structured data, unstructured text, business descriptions, technical architectures, competitive landscapes, or abstract concepts) into strategic Wardley maps. Default render path is **Mermaid `wardley-beta`** (mmdc 11.15.0+) -- pure code, version-controllable, GitHub-native, no external service. Legacy OnlineWardleyMaps `.owm` and OWM->Mermaid conversion via tractorjuice/wardley-maps-mermaid tooling. Use when creating strategic Wardley maps showing component evolution and value chains for decision-making.

Wardley Mapper

Transform ANY input into a strategic Wardley map for understanding competitive positioning and evolution.

Render Paths (pick one)

Path	Tooling	When
Mermaid wardley-beta (default)	mmdc 11.15.0+ from the mermaid-diagrams skill	Plain .mmd files, GitHub-native preview, embed in markdown/LaTeX, version-control friendly
OnlineWardleyMaps (.owm)	https://onlinewardleymaps.com or tractorjuice converter	Editing in the canonical web tool, exporting CC-BY-SA assets
Custom HTML/SVG	tools/generate_wardley_map.py here	Bespoke interactivity / report-builder dark-theme dashboards

Mermaid 11.15.0 (2026-05-11) finalised wardley-beta grammar -- hyphenated names render unquoted, label sanitisation no longer mangles parentheses, all 147 maps in the upstream WARDLEY-MAP-REPOSITORY parse cleanly. This is now the recommended default.

Quick Start

1. Identify the scope: What system/business/concept are we mapping?
2. Find the user: Who is the primary beneficiary?
3. Extract components: What capabilities/activities exist?
4. Determine evolution: Where does each component sit on the evolution axis?
5. Map dependencies: How do components connect?
6. Generate visualization: Create the map

Core Mapping Process

Step 1: User & Scope Identification

# Always start with the user need
user_need = identify_primary_user_need(input_data)
scope = define_boundary(input_data)

Key questions:

• Who is the primary user/customer?
• What need are we fulfilling?
• What is the boundary of our system?

Step 2: Component Extraction

Components can be:

• Activities: Things we do (e.g., "customer support", "data analysis")
• Practices: How we do things (e.g., "agile methodology", "DevOps")
• Data: Information assets (e.g., "customer database", "analytics")
• Knowledge: Expertise and capabilities (e.g., "ML expertise", "domain knowledge")

For different input types:

• Structured data: Extract entities, relationships, processes
• Text descriptions: Use NLP to identify nouns (components) and verbs (activities)
• Technical architectures: Map services, infrastructure, dependencies
• Business models: Extract value propositions, channels, resources

Step 3: Evolution Assessment

Use the evolution characteristics matrix:

Stage	Genesis	Custom	Product	Commodity
Ubiquity	Rare	Slowly increasing	Rapidly increasing	Widespread
Certainty	Poorly understood	Rapid learning	Rapid learning	Known
Market	Undefined	Forming	Growing	Mature
Failures	High/unpredictable	High/reducing	Low	Very low
Competition	N/A	Emerging	High	Utility

Step 4: Value Chain Positioning

Position components on Y-axis by visibility/value:

• Top (visible): User-facing, differentiating
• Middle: Supporting capabilities
• Bottom (invisible): Infrastructure, utilities

Step 5: Dependency Mapping

Connect components showing:

• Direct dependencies (solid lines)
• Data flows (dashed lines)
• Constraints (red lines)

Input Type Handlers

For Business Descriptions

See references/business-mapper.md

For Technical Systems

See references/technical-mapper.md

For Competitive Analysis

See references/competitive-mapper.md

For Data/Metrics

See references/data-mapper.md

Map Generation

Mermaid wardley-beta (default)

Emit .mmd text; render via the browsercontainer sidecar (see mermaid-diagrams skill).

wardley-beta
title AI Assistant Stack -- 2026-05
size [1100, 700]
evolution genesis / concept -> custom / emerging -> product / converging -> commodity / accepted

anchor user [0.95, 0.45]
anchor regulator [0.95, 0.10]

component "Chat UX" [0.86, 0.45] label [12, -6]
component "Agent loop" [0.62, 0.45] label [12, -6]
component "Frontier LLM" [0.55, 0.45] label [12, -6]
component "GPU fleet" [0.20, 0.45] label [12, -6]
component "Eval / Guardrails" [0.42, 0.18] label [-6, -12]

user -> "Chat UX"
"Chat UX" -> "Agent loop"
"Agent loop" -> "Frontier LLM"
"Frontier LLM" -> "GPU fleet"
regulator -> "Eval / Guardrails"
"Eval / Guardrails" -> "Frontier LLM"

evolve "Frontier LLM" 0.80
evolve "Eval / Guardrails" 0.40

Render:

mmdc-sidecar.sh -i map.mmd -o map.svg                     # vector
mmdc-sidecar.sh -i map.mmd -o map.png -e png              # raster
mmdc-sidecar.sh -i map.mmd -o map.pdf                     # LaTeX inclusion

Grammar reference (Mermaid 11.15.0): https://mermaid.js.org/syntax/wardleyMap.html Curated example corpus (147 maps, lossless OWM->Mermaid): https://github.com/tractorjuice/wardley-maps-mermaid

OWM (.owm) input -> Mermaid

The upstream tractorjuice repo ships a pure-stdlib Node.js converter:

# One-off: convert a single .owm to .mmd
git clone https://github.com/tractorjuice/wardley-maps-mermaid /tmp/wmm
node /tmp/wmm/tools/regenerate.mjs --root /path/with/owm/files

# Or batch via the converter package (no npm deps, Node 18+)
node /tmp/wmm/tools/regenerate.mjs --dry-run   # preview
node /tmp/wmm/tools/regenerate.mjs              # write .mmd siblings

Fidelity: 100% component / anchor / link retention, evolution-coordinate drift exactly 0.0, mean visibility drift 0.008 (grammar-level pipeline- block inheritance, not a converter bug).

Custom HTML/SVG (bespoke interactivity)

# tools/generate_wardley_map.py -- retained for report-builder
from tools.generate_wardley_map import WardleyMapGenerator
generator = WardleyMapGenerator()
map_html = generator.create_map(components, dependencies)

Text-Based Sketch

User Need
    |
    +-- [Visible Component] ------------> Product (0.7)
            |
            +-- [Supporting Component] ---> Custom (0.4)
                    |
                    +-- [Infrastructure] --> Commodity (0.9)

Advanced Patterns

Inertia Identification

Components resisting evolution despite market forces

Gameplay Patterns

• Commoditization play: Push products to utility
• Innovation play: Create new genesis components
• Ecosystem play: Build platforms at product stage

Strategic Movements

See references/strategic-patterns.md

Validation Checklist

✓ User need clearly defined ✓ All components have evolution position ✓ Dependencies mapped ✓ No orphaned components ✓ Evolution positions justified ✓ Map tells coherent story

Output Formats

1. Mermaid .mmd (default, version-controllable, GitHub-native)
2. SVG / PNG / PDF via mmdc (calls into the mermaid-diagrams skill)
3. Interactive HTML: Full visualization with tooltips (custom path)
4. JSON Structure: For programmatic use
5. Strategic Report: Analysis and recommendations

Quick Command

For instant mapping:

# Read the input and generate map immediately
exec(open('tools/quick_map.py').read())

LaTeX Integration

Workflow for including Wardley maps in LaTeX documents:

Step 1 — Write the .mmd file

wardley-beta
title Creative Industries -- AI Strategic Positioning 2026
size [1100, 700]
evolution genesis / concept -> custom / emerging -> product / converging -> commodity / accepted

anchor creator [0.95, 0.50]
anchor audience [0.95, 0.80]

component "Creative Output" [0.85, 0.50] label [12, -6]
component "AI Tools" [0.60, 0.50] label [12, -6]
component "Distribution" [0.75, 0.80] label [12, -6]
component "Brand/Reputation" [0.70, 0.25] label [-90, 0]
component "AI Training Data" [0.30, 0.50] label [12, -6]
component "Compute" [0.15, 0.50] label [12, -6]

creator -> "Creative Output"
creator -> "Brand/Reputation"
"Creative Output" -> "AI Tools"
"Creative Output" -> "Distribution"
audience -> "Distribution"
"AI Tools" -> "AI Training Data"
"AI Training Data" -> "Compute"

Four strategic positions for creative industries:

Position	Description	Map signal
All-in	Fully embrace AI in all workflows	AI Tools near product/commodity
AI-native	Build with AI from the ground up	AI Tools as anchor component
Refusal	Human-only, premium positioning	AI Tools absent from map
Middle	Selective AI augmentation	AI Tools in custom/emerging

Step 2 — Render via browsercontainer sidecar

mmdc-sidecar.sh -i map.mmd -o figures/wardley/creative_industries.png
# Or for vector output:
mmdc-sidecar.sh -i map.mmd -o figures/wardley/creative_industries.svg

Step 3 — Include in LaTeX

\begin{figure}[htbp]
  \centering
  \includegraphics[width=0.9\textwidth]{figures/wardley/creative_industries.png}
  \caption{Strategic positioning for creative industries, May 2026.}
  \label{fig:wardley-creative}
\end{figure}

Quality Indicators

Good maps have:

• Clear user focus
• Logical value chains
• Justified evolution positions
• Actionable insights
• Strategic options visible