What a Wardley map is
A Wardley map shows the chain of components needed to meet a user's need, and how evolved each of those components is. It is a way to see a business, a product or a system as a landscape — and to talk about where to move, what to build and what to buy.
- Vertical axis — visibility. The user and their need sit at the top. Components the user sees directly are high; the things those depend on sit lower down.
- Horizontal axis — evolution. Every component moves from left to right over time, through four stages: Genesis, Custom-Built, Product (including rental) and Commodity (including utility).
- Lines — dependencies. A line from one component to another means the first needs the second.
What the template gives you
Both axes, the four evolution stages labelled along the bottom with a divider between each, and Simon Wardley's classic tea-shop example as a worked value chain: Public → Cup of Tea → Hot Water → Kettle / Water → Power. The anchor — the user whose need the map serves — is at the top.
Replace the six components with your own and keep the axes. Start from the user and their need, list what meets that need, and keep asking "what does this depend on?" until you reach things that are commodities.
Mapping in ogof
- Double-click the canvas to add a component; drag from a component's edge to connect it.
- Drag a component sideways as you debate how evolved it is — the stage dividers stay put.
- Any component can hold a submap: drill into it to map its own value chain without cluttering the top level.
- Download gives you a
.canvasfile that opens in Obsidian or any JSON Canvas reader.
Credit
Wardley mapping was created by Simon Wardley, who published the method openly under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 4.0). The tea-shop chain is his teaching example. ogof is an independent editor and is not affiliated with or endorsed by him.