Wardley Mapping Notation

Wardley Mapping uses a specific visual notation to represent business components, their dependencies, and their evolution stages. While Wardley Mapping lacks a formal, standardized notation, the notation introduced by Simon Wardley in his book has become a widely accepted community standard. It's perfectly acceptable to adapt and extend this notation to suit your needs, as long as your maps remain readable and useful.

Core Notation Elements

Component (Current)

A single entity in a map representing an activity, practice, data, or knowledge. A component is a form of capital and can represent:

• Activities (often business capabilities)
• Practices (how you achieve something)
• Data (measurements and observations)
• Knowledge (how to do something, understanding of a particular domain)

The black color indicates that the component refers to a current (or past) situation.

A current component is represented with a simple circle like this:

The basic notation for a current component: an empty circle with a black outline.

Examples of components: Tea, Law, Requirements Gathering, Electricity, Server, Compute, Temperature Readings, and Equality. Each component is represented as a circle with a descriptive label.

Component (Future)

Same as a regular component, except indicating a future position. This shows how the component is expected to evolve or change over time.

A future component is represented with a red circle like this:

The notation for a future component: a red circle indicating an expected future state or position.

Interface / Line of the Present

A connection between components representing dependencies. We frequently talk about dependencies between components, and we represent a dependency with a line. For example, a server depending on power because it requires power to run.

A dependency is represented with a simple black line like this:

The basic notation for a dependency: a solid black line.

Here's an example showing a dependency between components:

Example: Server depends on Power. The components are shown in gray to emphasize the dependency relationship.

Line of the Future

How the situation is anticipated to be in the future. Some mappers use red for marking the future, while others use animations to show "as-is" or "to-be" states. All methods are acceptable as long as the map remains clear.

A future dependency is represented with a red line like this:

The notation for a future dependency: a solid red line indicating an anticipated future relationship.

Constraint

A limitation of a competitive marketplace. Sometimes, a particular component seems to be generally available but depends on something constrained. For example, computer chips requiring silicon wafers means you cannot produce as many chips as you want because there is a limited supply of silicon wafers.

A constraint is represented with a thick black line like this:

The basic notation for a constraint: a thick black line indicating a limitation or bottleneck.

Here's an example showing a constraint between components:

Example: Computer Chips are constrained by Silicon supply. The components are shown in gray to emphasize the constraint relationship.

Point of Change

How the map is changing due to competitive forces. The red dashed arrow shows how the world is changing around us. For example, AI becoming more industrialized (more predictable and more accessible to those interested in it).

A point of change is represented with a red dashed arrow like this:

The basic notation for a point of change: a red dashed arrow indicating competitive forces affecting the map.

Here's an example showing a point of change affecting a component:

Example: AI is being affected by competitive forces (industrialization). The red dashed arrow shows how the AI component is about to change.

Inertia

Likely to face resistance to a change. Inertia represents an earlier investment in some other capability. For example, wanting to spread equality but for some reason it is progressing slowly. There are sixteen different types of inertia. On a map, inertia is used to indicate that a particular change is far from being trivial.

Inertia is represented with a black rectangle like this:

The basic notation for inertia: a solid black rectangle indicating resistance to change.

Here's an example showing inertia affecting a component:

Example: A legacy system with inertia. The black rectangle shows the resistance to change that prevents the system from being replaced or modernized.

Flow

A flow of capital (e.g., risk, financial, physical, social) between components. You might need to show how value travels through your map. Simon uses blue highlights to do that. For example, showing a particularly important flow of value (from the driver to the person needing the travel) and funds (from the person needing the travel to the driver). It's usually up to the map maker to determine if and what flows to highlight.

Flow is represented with a light blue highlight like this:

The basic notation for flow: a light blue highlight indicating the flow of capital or value between components.

Here's an example showing flow in a ride-sharing context:

Example: In a ride-sharing service, the light blue highlights show the flow of value from the travel need to the ride-sharing app, and from the app to the driver. The mobile phone dependency is not highlighted as it's not part of the primary value flow.

Market

Formation of a competitive marketplace. This represents the emergence of a central market where all customers and producers interact. This usually creates a highly competitive environment where winners take it all.

A market is represented with a red circle containing interconnected components like this:

The notation for a market: a red circle containing three small red circles connected by black lines, representing a competitive marketplace where multiple participants interact.

This component has been used a few times in Simon's book, but otherwise, it is used rather infrequently.

Ecosystem

An ecosystem model (e.g., ILC - Industrialized Learning and Coevolution). This is a component type that is used rarely. It indicates that a complex ecosystem of providers of various services and customers has emerged, with some dynamics occurring within it (some providers are growing at the expense of others).

An ecosystem is represented with three concentric circles like this:

The notation for an ecosystem: three concentric circles - outer black border, middle gray with hatching, inner gray with white center - representing a core capability enabling an ecosystem.

Accelerator / Deaccelerator

An attempt to alter the map. This wide arrow represents our influence or goals. For example, aiming to make Universal Basic Income more widespread. An arrow pointing left would indicate that we want to reduce the availability (restrict) of it.

An accelerator/deaccelerator is represented with a thick, empty arrow like this:

The basic notation for an accelerator/deaccelerator: a thick, empty arrow indicating our influence or goals to change the map.

Here's an example showing an accelerator affecting a component:

Example: Universal Basic Income with an accelerator arrow showing our goal to make it more widespread. The thick arrow represents our effort to change the map.

Area of Interest / Focus / Cell

An area of interest, something worth noting (e.g., components designated to a team). This highlight indicates something important. For example, drawing attention to Controllers and Sensors. It might suggest that a particular team will attempt to create something or that further analysis is needed. Either way, it signifies importance.

An area of interest is represented with a grey, dashed cloud-like shape like this:

The basic notation for an area of interest: a grey, dashed cloud-like shape indicating something worth noting or highlighting.

Here's an example showing an area of interest highlighting specific components:

Example: In a car dependency diagram, the grey dashed oval highlights the Controllers and Sensors components, indicating these are areas of focus or interest for a particular team or analysis.

Method Notation

Build / Use / Outsource

These symbols are used to indicate how different components should be handled:

• Build: Build in-house with agile techniques
• Use: Use off-the-shelf products with lean methodology
• Outsource: Outsource to utility suppliers with Six Sigma

The three approaches are represented with circles of different shades:

The notation for build/use/outsource: light grey circle for build in-house, medium grey for use off-the-shelf, and dark grey for outsource.

Here's an example showing how these notations can be applied to a car's components:

Example: In this car dependency diagram, Batteries are built in-house (light grey), Controllers and Sensors are used off-the-shelf (medium grey), and the Electric Motor and Rare Earth Metals are outsourced (dark grey).

Attitude Notation

Pioneers / Settlers / Town Planners

Sometimes, you need people with different attitudes to handle your project. Simon decided to use bright colors to indicate what kind of people are where:

• Pioneers: They will invent Lego bricks
• Settlers / Villagers: They will commercialize Lego bricks
• Town Planners: They will build a factory for Lego bricks

The three attitudes are represented with colored squares:

The notation for attitudes: light blue square for pioneers, medium blue for settlers/villagers, and purple for town planners.

Here's an example showing how these attitude markers can be applied to a car's components:

Example: In this car dependency diagram, Batteries and Controllers need pioneers (light blue squares), Electric Motor and Sensors need settlers (medium blue squares), and Rare Earth Metals need town planners (purple squares).

Pipeline Notation

"OR" Relationship

Sometimes, it is necessary to identify many components that fall into one category, and often, dependencies are on some of them. For example, if you are a lawyer, you work with laws, but there are different laws at different levels of maturity, and you might need to know only some of them for your case.

A pipeline is represented with a rectangle containing multiple small components like this:

The basic notation for a pipeline: a rectangle containing multiple small components, indicating a category with various sub-components.

Here's an example showing a pipeline of different types of laws:

Example: The "Law" pipeline contains different types of laws (AI, Privacy, Financial, Property). The slider handle shows which area is currently the focus or most relevant.

The square at the top is not always included, but it indicates the center of gravity for the evolution of all the components.

If you want to simply highlight the category, you can use just the square without going into details. Example: The "Law" pipeline folded.

Annotations

Text annotations can provide additional context:

• Notes: Additional information about components
• Metrics: Performance or cost data
• Timeline: When changes occurred or are expected

Color Coding

Colors can be used to indicate:

• Ownership: What you own vs. what others provide
• Risk level: High, medium, or low risk components
• Investment priority: Where to focus resources

Notation Best Practices

1. Keep It Simple

• Use clear, concise labels
• Avoid overcrowding the map
• Focus on the most important relationships

2. Be Consistent

• Use the same notation throughout your map
• Establish a legend for custom symbols
• Maintain consistent positioning

3. Show Evolution

• Include movement arrows where relevant
• Indicate expected changes over time
• Show historical evolution if helpful

4. Add Context

• Include relevant metrics and data
• Add notes for important decisions
• Show ownership and control

Notation Tools

Digital Tools

• Wardley Maps: Official online mapping tool
• Lucidchart: General diagramming with custom templates
• Draw.io: Free diagramming tool
• Miro: Collaborative whiteboarding

Physical Tools

• Whiteboards: For collaborative mapping
• Sticky notes: For component placement
• Markers: For different colors and emphasis

Key Takeaways

• Notation provides a common language for discussing strategy
• Evolution stages are key to understanding component positioning
• Dependencies show relationships between components
• Movement indicators help predict future changes
• Consistency is important for clear communication
• Context matters - add relevant details and annotations

Understanding Wardley Mapping notation is essential for creating clear, effective maps that communicate strategy and guide decision-making. The notation system provides a structured way to visualize complex business relationships and evolution patterns.