Map/Serverless/DevOps DaysATL 2019 Things Learned
There are lots of things I learned at Map/Serverless/DevOpsDaysATL 2019 that I will probably not mention here, but I do want to share a random set of highlights that I’ll probably want to reference myself in the future.
What Wardley Maps really look like
It turns out, that most practicing mappers, including Simon Wardley himself, use maps in a way where the generated artifact looks like this:
This wasn’t at all obvious to me when reading the mapping book and learning about mapping in general. The pretty versions of maps in the book, in presentations, etc.. are that way mostly* to teach others about mapping. After all, the picture above would be a difficult pedagogical tool.
* some maps are worth presenting or keeping around and iteratively come back to them; also, digital maps allow for long-distance collaboration; however, most maps probably look like the picture.
Vertical axis of a Wardley Map is… kinda there
There is a lot that goes into explaining the horizontal evolution axis of a Wardley Map. Multiple adoption cycles, diffusion of innovation, all sorts of things come into play. It takes a lot of research to determine the stage of evolution, and we usually bypass it via crowdsourcing of people’s opinions. I even created https://mappingevolution.com to help me figure out where things ought to go. The value chain vertical axis, on the other hand, is there as “scaffolding”. People kept asking Simon what is the vertical axis so it is what it is. Movement on the vertical axis, while meaningful, seems to me to be much less meaningful that movement on the horizontal axis. However, Jabe Bloom framed the vertical axis in an interesting way using Regimes, Strategies, and Niches.
I haven’t fully grokked this framing yet, so I’m uncertain if it is useful. However, I am intrigued.
Burja Mapping
Tasshin Fogleman introduced Samo Burja’s Empire Theory and created a sort of mapping for power structures in human organizations.
I have more reading to do, but Burja’s ideas on top of some sort of Tasshin’s mapping are intriguing.
Spatial visualization of framing
As always, Jabe explains some philosophy in a very accessible way. In this case, I really enjoyed his visualization of framing. It is also the first time in my mind it clicked that framing can be interpreted as figuratively putting a picture frame on some part of reality and considering what is in the frame. I always understood framing abstractly, but not this spatially.
Output and Outcomes
Also from Jabe’s presentation, this was an important highlight, that both outputs and outcomes should be on the map.
Cost of Change
Also also from Jabe’s presentation, he highlighted three types of change to keep track of on a Wardley Map. In particular, not only the change of a component on a map, or the change due to movement of component on a map, but the change due to changing relationship between components, the changes in lines on a map and what components the lines link.
Contracts/Pacts
I got to sit out of frame and hear Claire Moss talk about contracts and pacts. I’ve heard of these before, but she highlighted multiple nuances that I wasn’t aware of. Definitely provided additional context for my thoughts on the boundary between Complicated and Complex. You can find the discussion on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/praxisflow/status/1116059587373744128
And lots of other things…
Aside from some of the highlights above, I was fortunate to meet a bunch of people who I only ever saw on video and have conversations with them. That was definitely the highlight of the conf.
Now, I have some reading and thinking to do…
