Simon Wardley created a business scenario based on a fictional company as a way to practice Wardley Mapping. The scenario presented here is a derivative work based on that original content. In this case, Twitter is used as the company encountering a realistic, yet fictional, strategic scenario.
The content includes the text and a few figures and tables for the scenario. The solution to the scenario--any Wardley maps, company analysis, and strategy--are an exercise for the instructor and their workshop participants.
Although some of the company data comes from Twitter's 10-K and quarterly reports filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the scenario, executive team personas, and choices made by the team are purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people or events in the company are coincidental.
The scenario is meant to be used by an experienced instructor. If you are just learning how to map, this content is not meant for you. If you are new, you should concentrate on learning how to map by reading Simon's book and blog, attending a local meetup, traveling to a "Map Camp" event, taking an online class, or attending a workshop. Most of all, you should practice as much as you can.
If you are an instructor looking for material you might use in a workshop, this material is for you. If you decide to use it, I imagine you will want to tailor the content to fit your seminar or workshop. You might even want to modify it into something else and then share it with others using a Creative Commons license. :)
The content presented here directly borrows the structure and some of the text of the scenario created by Simon Wardley, especially the humorous bits. You should also take note that Simon's original scenario makes great workshop content as well.
There are two key differences that might make one want to use this content:
- Using Twitter as the company might make the scenario more relatable to some audiences (in 2019 at least; in 2029, who knows?)
- There is no pre-built solution to this scenario, so audiences will not have a chance to read ahead to find out what Simon would do
Before using this, you should first consider if Twitter is the right company for your audience. If not, I recommend you use Simon's material (for a more technical audience), or create your own scenario using an example that resonates better, or create a completely different kind of exercise.
In addition to working out your own solution to the scenario, you'll need to develop the material needed to provide structure around the excercise. For example:
- It is assumed that you are also teaching the concepts and techniques of Wardley Mapping; are you teaching before the exercise or after?
- Are there enough participants to run the exercise? Are there too many? What is the right number of people per group?
- How will you introduce the exercise?
- How will participants interact with the material? Do you need to print out enough copies or give them an online resource?
- How much time will it take participants to run through it and how should they divide their time?
- How should participants who are new to Wardley Mapping approach the material?
- Will you present your solution to the exercise?
- How will participants make sense of your solution?
- Will participants also present their solutions to the exercise as part of the workshop?
I highly recommend you test out your exercise with sympathetic participants first in order to work out the timing.
Good luck!
Copyright 2019 Globant, LLC.
This work is a derivative work based on content originally created by Simon Wardley, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
