Mapping emerging value in engineering teams: In Chapter 19 of The Value Flywheel Effect, Dave Anderson, Mark McCann, and Michael O’Reilly explore one of the most misunderstood — yet strategically vital — aspects of modern technology leadership: how to sense, map, and seize emerging value.
While most organisations focus heavily on operations and delivery, few create the conditions that allow teams to think beyond the immediate future. This chapter shows how leaders can use Wardley Mapping to establish situational awareness, align product thinking, and identify land-grab opportunities that drive long-term strategic advantage.
Three Organisational Pipelines: Mindset, Purpose, and Cloud
The conversation begins with the foundational pipelines that underpin organisational evolution:
- Mindset — shifting from project to product thinking
- Purpose — creating clarity that aligns teams around mission
- Cloud Strategy — adopting modern, travel-light architecture that enables velocity
These pipelines evolve over time and often face inertia from traditional leadership structures. But without them, emerging value remains out of reach.
The Three Value Chains: Run, Grow, Transform
The Wardley Map described in the episode visualises three major value chains, each representing a different organisational mode.
1. Sustainable Operations (Run)
The most evolved value chain focuses on the essentials: resilience, stability, and the ability to execute. This is the foundation that keeps the lights on — and frees teams from constant firefighting.
2. Long-Term Goals (Grow)
Once the organisation stabilises, leaders can invest time in psychological safety, diversity of thought, experimentation, and ethical decision-making. These cultural capabilities enable product-led growth and long-term strategic thinking.
3. Land Grab (Transform)
The least evolved — and most strategic — part of the map.
Land Grab represents adjacent market opportunities, where organisations can expand their portfolio and create entirely new value streams.
This is where companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft excel: navigating into new categories while maintaining operational excellence.
Wardley Mapping Gameplay: Recognising Patterns
The team walk through Wardley’s gameplay patterns, including:
- Market enablement
- Fast follower vs first mover
- Open source as an accelerant
- Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD)
- Co-creation and alliances
- Talent raids
- Weak signal detection and horizon scanning
Understanding these patterns gives leaders a vocabulary for both defence and offence in rapidly evolving markets — especially in AI.
Why Mapping Emerging Value Matters
To pursue emerging value, leaders must create space for exploration:
- Stable systems
- Clear missions
- Product-centred teams
- Fast feedback
- Psychological safety
- Modern cloud foundations
Without this, any attempt at innovation simply creates new forms of technical debt.
Mapping helps leaders understand when to build, when to commoditise, and when to move into new markets. It provides the clarity needed to make bold, strategic decisions with confidence.
Conclusion
Emerging value is not luck — it’s a capability.
Through Wardley Mapping and the Value Flywheel Effect, leaders can build the organisational conditions that allow teams to sense opportunity and seize it before competitors do.
To dive deeper, watch the full discussion in The Serverless Craic episode linked below.