WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.700 Happy Monday! 2 00:00:01.700 --> 00:00:04.700 I'm Cory Foy, and welcome to this week's Mapping Monday. 3 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:07.700 Often when we think about Wardley Mapping, we dive into 4 00:00:07.700 --> 00:00:10.700 the "mapping" part of it. But mapping is a tool 5 00:00:10.700 --> 00:00:13.700 used to look at our landscapes, and figure out what 6 00:00:13.700 --> 00:00:16.700 gameplays we can make. And we can't get there without a 7 00:00:16.700 --> 00:00:19.700 common operating model - our doctrine. 8 00:00:19.700 --> 00:00:22.700 The word doctrine certainly conjures up a military context 9 00:00:22.700 --> 00:00:25.700 filled with rigid structures and a single 10 00:00:25.700 --> 00:00:28.700 way of thinking. But the US Army defines doctrine 11 00:00:28.700 --> 00:00:31.700 as the fundamental principles by which the military 12 00:00:31.700 --> 00:00:34.700 forces - or elements thereof - guide their actions 13 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:37.700 in support of national objectives. In other words 14 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:40.700 it's a body of thought on how they operate together 15 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:43.700 focusing on how to think, not what to think. 16 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:46.700 Similar to how the military took 17 00:00:46.700 --> 00:00:49.700 past experience and turned them into fundamental principles 18 00:00:49.700 --> 00:00:52.700 Wardley lists a set of doctrine, defining 19 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:55.700 them as universally useful patterns 20 00:00:55.700 --> 00:00:58.700 that can be applied regardless of context. 21 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:01.700 While there are several ways he presents them 22 00:01:01.700 --> 00:01:04.700 I find the division into six key categories - Communication, 23 00:01:04.700 --> 00:01:07.700 Development, Operation, Structure 24 00:01:07.700 --> 00:01:10.700 Learning and Leading - to be a 25 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:13.700 great way of breaking them down. So over the next 26 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:16.700 several weeks, we'll take each of these categories 27 00:01:16.700 --> 00:01:19.700 and dive deeper into the doctrine within them. 28 00:01:20.933 --> 00:01:23.933 But let's not wait! Our first category, communication, 29 00:01:23.933 --> 00:01:26.933 is perhaps one of the most vital sets of principles 30 00:01:26.933 --> 00:01:29.933 we can tackle. Our organizations have lots 31 00:01:29.933 --> 00:01:32.933 of people with amazing information that can help us 32 00:01:32.933 --> 00:01:35.933 but only if we let them. 33 00:01:35.933 --> 00:01:38.933 Simon's doctrines within communications are Be Transparent, 34 00:01:38.933 --> 00:01:41.933 Focus on High Situational Awareness, 35 00:01:41.933 --> 00:01:44.933 Use a Common Language, and Challenge Assumptions. 36 00:01:44.933 --> 00:01:47.933 Transparency is something we say we all 37 00:01:47.933 --> 00:01:50.933 strive for, but can be hard in practice. 38 00:01:50.933 --> 00:01:53.933 Many of us like to be story tellers - a hero, 39 00:01:53.933 --> 00:01:56.933 bringing the ideas that will save our organizations 40 00:01:56.933 --> 00:01:59.300 or create the next big thing. 41 00:01:59.300 --> 00:02:01.833 Or, we don't like people to see things 42 00:02:01.833 --> 00:02:04.833 messy, afraid they'll think we don't know what we're doing. 43 00:02:04.833 --> 00:02:07.833 So this first doctrine principle of 44 00:02:07.833 --> 00:02:10.833 Be Transparent is about turning that around. 45 00:02:10.833 --> 00:02:13.833 We should bias everything toward being 46 00:02:13.833 --> 00:02:16.833 open, we should share out maps, we should share 47 00:02:16.833 --> 00:02:19.833 our strategies, our approaches and our gameplays 48 00:02:19.833 --> 00:02:22.833 as wide as we possibly can to get the most 49 00:02:22.833 --> 00:02:25.833 input and insights. This also means 50 00:02:25.966 --> 00:02:28.966 we'll get their concerns, their challenges, 51 00:02:28.966 --> 00:02:31.966 the messiness to our perfect story. 52 00:02:31.966 --> 00:02:34.966 We should be prepared for that. Rather than ignore it 53 00:02:34.966 --> 00:02:37.966 and let the market - or our competitors - 54 00:02:37.966 --> 00:02:39.233 show us our flaws. 55 00:02:39.233 --> 00:02:41.900 Transparency doesn't mean making all 56 00:02:41.900 --> 00:02:44.900 our private conversations public. We should have more 57 00:02:44.900 --> 00:02:47.900 awareness than that. Which happens to be Wardley's 58 00:02:47.900 --> 00:02:50.900 second doctrine principle - focus on 59 00:02:50.900 --> 00:02:53.900 Situational Awareness. The guidance I give organizations 60 00:02:53.900 --> 00:02:56.900 I work with is that you need systematic methods 61 00:02:56.900 --> 00:02:59.900 for analyzing and evaluating what's happening 62 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:02.900 around you. Wardley Maps are, of course, 63 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:04.400 a great way of doing that. As an example, 64 00:03:04.833 --> 00:03:07.833 let's pretend that Amazon just announced 65 00:03:07.833 --> 00:03:10.833 they're moving into your market. The first thing you need isn't 66 00:03:10.833 --> 00:03:13.833 a response, it's a map of what exactly 67 00:03:13.833 --> 00:03:16.833 it appears they are doing, and how that fits into - 68 00:03:16.833 --> 00:03:19.833 or disrupts - the current landscape you 69 00:03:19.833 --> 00:03:22.833 operate in. The other aspect I tie 70 00:03:22.833 --> 00:03:25.833 closely with situational awareness is Commander's Intent. 71 00:03:25.833 --> 00:03:28.833 This is the notion that, as a leader, 72 00:03:28.833 --> 00:03:31.833 your teams understand the intent of their actions 73 00:03:31.833 --> 00:03:34.833 and how they fit in to the overall strategy. 74 00:03:34.833 --> 00:03:37.833 As another example. let's say you're trying to compete 75 00:03:37.833 --> 00:03:40.833 in a disruptive market that requires a lot of exploration. 76 00:03:40.833 --> 00:03:43.833 You may direct your operations teams to 77 00:03:43.833 --> 00:03:46.833 reduce costs. But they should understand that 78 00:03:46.833 --> 00:03:49.833 in a high discovery phase, we don't want to lock down 79 00:03:49.833 --> 00:03:52.833 all capacity to the minimums. We're going to have 80 00:03:52.833 --> 00:03:55.833 some waste as we move along the path and stabilize. 81 00:03:55.833 --> 00:03:58.833 Otherwise, they may march towards making things 82 00:03:58.833 --> 00:04:01.833 as lean as possible at the detriment to 83 00:04:01.833 --> 00:04:04.833 your disrupting teams. The third 84 00:04:04.833 --> 00:04:07.833 doctrine principle is Use a Common Language. 85 00:04:07.833 --> 00:04:10.833 In the Lean world, we refer to this as Standard Work. 86 00:04:10.833 --> 00:04:13.833 Standardized work is the playbook. 87 00:04:13.833 --> 00:04:16.833 It's what the team has decided is the best way 88 00:04:16.833 --> 00:04:19.833 at this point in time to get the job done and succeed 89 00:04:19.833 --> 00:04:22.833 on a daily basis. So we should make sure 90 00:04:22.833 --> 00:04:25.833 that people understand roles, approaches and terms, 91 00:04:25.833 --> 00:04:28.833 as well as things like movement in a map, what mapping 92 00:04:28.833 --> 00:04:31.833 is, and the approaches and gameplays we want to take. 93 00:04:31.833 --> 00:04:34.833 And, we should create checkpoints for verifying 94 00:04:34.833 --> 00:04:37.833 that we're all talking about the same things. 95 00:04:37.833 --> 00:04:40.833 And have a common repository for reference we can 96 00:04:40.833 --> 00:04:43.833 update when we're not. The final doctrine 97 00:04:43.833 --> 00:04:46.833 principle under communication is Challenge Assumptions. 98 00:04:46.833 --> 00:04:49.833 One of the most powerful statements I got was 99 00:04:49.833 --> 00:04:52.833 from Jabe Bloom who told me "The people telling 100 00:04:52.833 --> 00:04:55.833 the story determine what's possible in the story." 101 00:04:55.833 --> 00:04:58.833 That means not only should we be comfortable 102 00:04:58.833 --> 00:05:01.833 challenging assumptions - as Wardley says, there's no place 103 00:05:01.833 --> 00:05:04.833 for ego if you want to learn - we should also 104 00:05:04.833 --> 00:05:07.833 create methods for allowing those assumptions to be exposed. 105 00:05:07.833 --> 00:05:10.833 To highlight this, let's imagine we 106 00:05:10.833 --> 00:05:13.833 got this paragraph from our Chief Product Officer. 107 00:05:13.833 --> 00:05:16.833 It sounds reasonable, but it also feels like 108 00:05:16.833 --> 00:05:19.833 there's something not right. But how do you 109 00:05:19.833 --> 00:05:22.833 challenge it - how do you pick apart the 110 00:05:22.833 --> 00:05:25.833 pieces that don't feel right without the 111 00:05:25.833 --> 00:05:28.833 storyteller feeling like you're picking 112 00:05:28.833 --> 00:05:31.833 them apart? But now, let's attach a map 113 00:05:31.833 --> 00:05:34.833 to this statement. Now we can ask questions about 114 00:05:34.833 --> 00:05:37.833 why we're choosing this attack versus another. 115 00:05:37.833 --> 00:05:40.833 What the dangers of competitors evolving a key 116 00:05:40.833 --> 00:05:43.833 component before we can. And even questioning some key 117 00:05:43.833 --> 00:05:46.833 elements the tactics were based on. 118 00:05:46.833 --> 00:05:49.833 Cat Swetel says that Wardley Mapping is the 119 00:05:49.833 --> 00:05:52.833 democratization of strategy and that's what makes it so important. 120 00:05:52.833 --> 00:05:55.833 Transparency, situational awareness 121 00:05:55.833 --> 00:05:58.833 common language, challenging assumptions. 122 00:05:58.833 --> 00:06:01.833 It's a lot for one week! But I have confidence 123 00:06:01.833 --> 00:06:04.833 you'll find ways to start the journey in your organization. 124 00:06:04.833 --> 00:06:07.833 And if you have questions, need help, or just want to let me know 125 00:06:07.833 --> 00:06:10.833 how it's going, feel free to reach out on Twitter at cory_foy 126 00:06:10.833 --> 00:06:13.833 or via email at hello at coryfoy dot com. 127 00:06:13.833 --> 00:06:16.833 Until next week, here's to challenging ourselves! 128 00:06:16.833 --> 00:06:17.966 Until next week, here's to challenging ourselves!