Wardley Mapping is plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0698, within the Strategy family. The core principle: plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
Scientific Definition
Plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible.
Plain-English Definition
Plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible.
Feynman Explanation
Most strategy is verbal. Wardley turns it into a map you can be wrong about.
Core Principle
Plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible.
Mechanisms
Pending editorial review.
Plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity.
Inputs (Triggers)
Pending editorial review.
Outputs (Behaviors)
Pending editorial review.
Behavioral Signature
Most strategy is verbal. Wardley turns it into a map you can be wrong about.
Examples
- Simon Wardley's mapping work at Canonical and across UK government digital service.
- Why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity.
Pending editorial review.
Original analysis from The Incentives Lab — how this element behaves inside real payoff structures.
Why this element matters to incentive design
This is one of the elements leaders describe as a values gap. It is a payoff gap. The mechanism underneath it is straightforward: plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible. You can recognize it in the field by its signature: most strategy is verbal. Wardley turns it into a map you can be wrong about. Every element in the Cognition dimension changes the perceived payoff of an action before the action happens, which is exactly where incentive design has leverage.
How it gets exploited
Left undesigned, why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity. It is amplified whenever why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity. Inside organizations that shows up as why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity. The pattern is the same one Goodhart's Law describes: the measurable proxy attracts the effort, and the purpose behind it quietly loses funding.
How the Lab designs around it
The redesign move is to map before you strategize. The position of each component dictates the right play (build/buy/outsource). Watch for it at the boundaries: handoffs, promotions, incident reviews, and budget cycles are where this element gets its power.
Famous Experiments
Pending editorial review.
Design Principles
- Map before you strategize. The position of each component dictates the right play (build/buy/outsource).
Measurement Approaches
Pending editorial review.
Evidence
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
The Perverse Incentive Lens™
How this behavior is exploited — and how to redesign around it.
- Map before you strategize. The position of each component dictates the right play (build/buy/outsource).
Pending editorial review.
Pending editorial review.
Interactive Mini Network
Click any neighbor to re-center the graph and follow the threads of connection.
Knowledge Graph Neighbors
Auto-linked to the rest of the Human Behavior Taxonomy by family, domain, dimension, and shared keywords.
Basics first (health/finances), then depth (mastery/impact), then altruism (widening circle).
A problem whose solution requires people to change their values, beliefs, or habits — not just apply expertise.
Holding a different — and correct — set of tools than everyone else.
Someone who incites others to take illegal or rash action, often to expose or discredit them.
Sun Tzu's ancient treatise on strategy, deception, and positioning.
Conflict between belligerents with very different resources and tactics.
Start from the desired future and work backward to the steps that make it inevitable.
Winning the disputed population, not just defeating the visible opponent.
Countering hostile narratives with truthful, well-timed alternatives.
Sort situations into Clear, Complicated, Complex, Chaotic, or Confused — each needs a different response.
Eroding the will to act, even when capacity remains.
Munger's principle: the surest way to get something is to deserve it.
Where Wardley Mapping is cited in the corpus
Essays, field guides, and diagnostics from The Incentives Lab that apply this element.
- EssayGoodhart's Law in the Real World
How measurable proxies capture judgment.
- EssayThe Perverse Incentives Hiding in Your KPIs
Cognitive shortcuts turned into scorecards.
- EssayAI Agents Inherit Your Incentives
How this element propagates into automated systems.
- ReferenceThe incentive glossary
Definitions for every mental model, bias, and fallacy in the corpus.
- ReferenceThe Periodic Table of Human Behavior
The full 1,267-element map this page belongs to.
Questions about Wardley Mapping
- What is Wardley Mapping?
- Wardley Mapping is plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible. It sits in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™ as element HBT-COG-0698, within the Strategy family. The core principle: plot value chain components against their evolution from genesis to commodity — strategy becomes visible. In incentive terms, it matters because it changes the payoff people perceive before they choose — which means it can be designed for, or exploited.
- What is an example of Wardley Mapping?
- Why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity. The Incentives Lab catalogs everyday, organizational, and historical instances of this element on its Human Behavior Taxonomy™ page (HBT-COG-0698).
- How is Wardley Mapping exploited?
- Why outsourcing a 'core' capability is often correct — it's no longer core, it's commodity.
- How do you design around Wardley Mapping?
- Map before you strategize. The position of each component dictates the right play (build/buy/outsource).
- Which behavioral dimension does Wardley Mapping belong to?
- Wardley Mapping is classified in the Cognition dimension (COG) of the Human Behavior Taxonomy™, family "Strategy", class "Mental Model". Its permanent identifier is HBT-COG-0698 and its evidence grade is B.