We discuss facilitating effective collaborative mapping workshops and creating Wardley maps for strategic planning in businesses. We look at the importance of creating a safe environment, effective facilitation techniques, and involving all stakeholders in the mapping process.
We also highlight the benefits of embracing diversity and respecting different opinions. And we share various approaches to creating and utilising Wardley maps, including Miro and Lucid, and learning more about the technique through Ben Mosior LearnWardleyMapping.com resources.

Wardley Mapping techniques and anti-patterns.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discussed anti-patterns in Wardley mapping, including "gaming the system" (Dave Anderson).
The speakers shared their experiences and insights on how to avoid common mistakes in Wardley Mapping (Dave Anderson, Michael O'Reilly).
Collaboration is key in mapping exercises, as it helps to identify blind spots and improve the overall quality of the map.
It's important to strike a balance between mapping by yourself and collaborating with others to ensure a richer feedback loop and improved map quality.
Michael O'Reilly suggests mapping a subject matter to identify blind spots and derive questions to ask (0:05:10)
Dave Anderson advises against re-creating architecture diagrams and instead focuses on higher-level abstraction (0:06:27)

Software development, components, and abstraction.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss the challenges of defining and understanding components in software development.
Experience and wisdom are key to summarising complex conversations and determining the appropriate level of abstraction for components.
Dave Anderson and Michael O'Reilly discuss the importance of context in understanding a Wardley map, with examples from their own experiences.
They emphasize the need to introduce new people to a shared conversation gradually, rather than expecting them to pick it up quickly.

Facilitating workshops, mapping, and collaboration.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson discuss the importance of mapping in strategy development, highlighting its ability to shake out key elements and dependencies.
Mark McCann emphasises the value of psychological safety in a top-down environment, where managers must create a safe space for team members to share their thoughts and ideas.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann emphasise the importance of creating a safe environment where participants feel comfortable sharing their opinions and asking questions.
Facilitators should be open and non-forced in their approach, allowing participants to take the lead and challenge each other's perspectives.

Using Wardley mapping to understand user needs and dependencies.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss the importance of identifying the user and their needs in the mapping process.
They use specific examples and exercises to help the group understand and clarify their thinking.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss the importance of collaboration in product development, using sticky notes and online tools like Miro and Lucid to facilitate brainstorming sessions.
They emphasise the need to keep the collaboration process simple and focused, with clear goals and a structured approach to ensure everyone's voice is heard.
O'Reilly and McCann discuss using Wardley mapping to structure innovation sessi

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Dave, Michael, and Mark discussed the application of Wardley Mapping in understanding movement and making strategic decisions. They share their experiences with the method, emphasising its ability to visualise and track changes in tech stacks and capabilities.
They also discussed the importance of context, user needs, and facilitating meaningful conversations through mapping.
Additionally, they highlighted the benefits of mapping for challenging each other's thinking and fostering creative dialogue.
Later, they discussed the importance of understanding user needs during agile transformations, including the value of having a shared representation of collective experiences and strategies for removing barriers to change in an organization.

Outline
Using Wardley mapping to improve understanding of complex systems and software development.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss the history of Wardley mapping, including when they first learned about it and how it has evolved over time.
The hosts emphasise the importance of mapping movement and tracking progress in the context of technology and capability, citing examples from their own experiences.
Mark McCann: Focusing on user needs in Agile transformations helped teams understand why they were delivering code.
Michael O'Reilly: Participating in mapping sessions helped him understand technical nuances and communicate with non-technical stakeholders.
Mark McCann: Identified value chain visibility as key to success
Dave Anderson: Custom skill sets and implementations were hindering progress

Challenging inertia points in team decision-making.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discussed the importance of mapping out problems and inviting team members to contribute their perspectives.
The team used a structured approach to thinking deeply about problems and coming up with solutions, which helped to challenge assumptions and identify areas for improvement.
Identifying and addressing inertia points is crucial for strategic maneuvering.

Leadership principles, including courage, collaboration, empathy, and narrative.
Dave Anderson and Michael O'Reilly discussed the importance of courage and collaboration in tackling complex problems.
They emphasised the need for shared understanding and mapping with other teams to make better decisions.
The importance of context in mapping: Understanding the user's needs and perspective is crucial for effective mapping.
Empathy and narrative: Mapping can facilitate empathy and storytelling, but it's important to show the map to the right audience.

Principles of Wardley mapping for strategic planning.
Michael O'Reilly and Mark McCann discuss the importance of simplifying complex systems through Wardley mapping, focusing on the principles of abstraction and dialogue.
Dave Anderson emphasises the importance of not overcomplicating the model, and using it as a facilitation for meaningful conversations.
Dave Anderson and Michael O'Reilly discuss the importance of mapping in facilitating creative conversations.
They outline the eight principles of Wardley mapping and its benefits in understanding a company's value chain.

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The Value Flywheel Effect is a pattern seen in organisations where business strategy and technology strategy align, leading to more sales and growth.
The hosts discuss the concept of the value flywheel effect, its origins, and how it applies to creating software for customers.

Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss the four phases of the value flywheel process, with three principles for each phase, aimed at building momentum and sustainability in organizations and teams.
Clarity of purpose is the first principle, visualised as a data-informed Northstar, helping teams understand their core user needs and improve situational awareness.
Software development principles, including focus, clarity, and understanding the market.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson discuss the importance of aligning individual and team goals with the overall organisational Northstar.
They emphasise the need for a clear problem statement and direction to focus attention and achieve success.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson discuss the importance of focusing on time to value in product discovery, rather than just time to market.
They emphasise the need to map the market and clarify the business's purpose, rather than just focusing on individual silos or software pieces.
Dave Anderson looks at the importance of understanding a company's strategy and market position, even for software engineering teams.
Mark McCann suggests that junior engineers can gain valuable insights by analysing a company's website, LinkedIn, job postings, and press releases to understand their competitors and industry landscape.

Engineering team structure, process, and enablement.
Michael O'Reilly: Embrace diverse teams for success, learn from failures.
Mark McCann: Socio-technical systems crucial for successful teams.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson discuss the importance of enabling and empowering engineers in High Performance Engineering, including creating a generative environment and mapping the organisation for enablement.
Mark McCann adds that removing friction points and impediments is crucial, including developer enablement, handoffs, and carving off certain things to encourage smaller approaches.

Prioritising tech stack, offloading non-differentiating tasks, and mapping solutions to customer needs.
Focus on delivering value, not just building code.
Dave Anderson emphasises the importance of prioritizing tech stack and deciding what to move to the right, while Michael O'Reilly and Mark McCann discuss the benefits of mapping out the tech stack and identifying key differentiators for the business.
Modernising software development and delivery using AWS Well-Architected Framework.
Dave Anderson looks at the importance of preventing problems before they occur in software development.
Mark McCann highlights the need to understand the ecosystem and constraints when implementing continuous delivery.
Mark McCann: Celebrate successes in fraud prevention, reward employees for going above and beyond.
Dave Anderson: Keep a low carbon footprint, measure efficiency and sustainability in cloud workloads.
Mark McCann and Dave Anderson discuss the importance of well-architected frameworks for cloud migration and sustainability.
They highlight the 12 pillars of well-architected, including map emerging value and spot inertia, to help organizations identify areas for

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We discuss why we wrote 'The Value Flywheel Effect,' emphasising our desire to give back to the community and help others who have contributed to their success. We share our experiences and insights on navigating the cloud transformation journey, highlighting the importance of luck, collaboration, and upskilling in overcoming challenges. We also discuss modernising engineering practices, prioritising meaningful outcomes, and providing insights on change leadership and decision-making techniques.

Modernising software development and delivery in the cloud.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson share their experiences working together in the cloud industry, mentioning luck and serendipity as key factors in their success.
They emphasise the importance of being high up the value chain and delivering meaningful outcomes, even in the face of economic ups and downs.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson discuss the shift towards modernisation in engineering, with a focus on agility and speed.
They emphasise the importance of thinking differently and acting collectively to drive change in the industry.

Modernising software development and embracing new technologies.
Organisations must adapt to changing industry expectations and evolving technologies to remain competitive.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss their book on modern software development, with Dave crediting Mark for encouraging them to write it.
Mark McCann recounts how they met and shared ideas before writing the book, with Dave describing it as a "big confidence boost."

Modernisation strategies for technology and business.
Dave Anderson and Michael O'Reilly praise Simon Wardley's mapping technique and strategic thinking, citing his ability to make complex decisions and decompose things down.
Simon Wardley's 2015/2016 talk on serverless computing is highlighted as a standout moment, with Dave Anderson calling it "super important" and Michael O'Reilly praising his ability to entertain and carry a message.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss modernisation in organisations, emphasising the importance of leadership and decision-making.
They suggest a framework for driving modernisation, including techniques like event storming and Northstars.

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AWS Serverless Developer Advocate Team news is breaking. We discuss this and the importance of community events and fostering a culture of curiosity and collaboration in the tech industry.
We emphasise the value of attending events like ServerlessDays Belfast and looking outside one's own silo to drive enterprise transformation. We also discuss the significance of developer advocacy in promoting AWS adoption and we look at the challenges of quantifying the impact of advocacy work and the importance of learning about new technologies and driving change within companies.
Outline
Serverless development and engineering history in Belfast.
ServerlessDays Belfast provided a great opportunity for attendees to engage in meaningful conversations with both beginner and seasoned experts in the field.
Serverless technology and its impact on software development.
We emphasise the importance of applying new ideas and learning from others in the tech industry.
Jeremy Daly's keynote at the event inspires attendees with his innovative approach to serverless computing at AMP.
We praise the AWS Developer Relations team for their helpfulness and unbiased opinions.
The team has been a valuable resource for learning and validation, with their content and opinions shaping the field.
Leveraging serverless technology and its benefits in modernisation and migration efforts.
We credit the DAs with breathing life into the serverless movement and discuss how serverless technology can help modernize enterprises by leveraging existing work and tailoring it to specific contexts.
Developer advocacy and its impact on the tech industry.
We highlight the valuable insights and expertise of various serverless experts, including Julian Wood, Eric Johnson, David Boyne, Marcia Villalba, and Chris Munns.
We recommend reading the ServerlessLand site as a go-to resource for understanding serverless technology and strategies.
We discuss the impact of their developer advocacy work on AWS, highlighting the need for continued investment in Dev Rel.
We emphasise the difficulty in measuring the impact of their work but noted anecdotal evidence of significant change driven by their efforts.
Modern cloud solutions and their evolution.
We discuss the evolution of developer advocacy at AWS, highlighting the importance of feedback loops and professionalism.
And emphasise the value of connecting customers with the product team to address feature requests and shape product direction.
We discuss the evolution of cloud services, including the term "next gen" and the importance of situational awareness.
And reflect on their favorite team and thank engineers for their work, encouraging listeners to follow TheServerlessEdge.com website and channels.

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ServerlessDays Belfast: https://serverlessdaysbelfast.com/
AWS Serverless DA Team: https://serverlessland.com/
Check out our book The Value Flywheel Effect: https://theserverlessedge.com/the-value-flywheel-effect/
Follow us on X @ServerlessEdge: https://twitter.com/ServerlessEdge
Follow us on LinkedIn - The ServerlessEdge: https://www.linkedin.com/company/71264379/
Subscribe to our Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5LvFaitkSkg2q5MWqKLrXu

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We use the Cynefin Framework in our cloud modernisation work.
Dave Snowden created the Cynefin framework. Cynefin, pronounced "ku-nev-in," is a Welsh word that translates as "place" or "habitat." However, it can also be used to describe the elements of our situation and personal history that influence our thoughts and decisions in ways we don't understand.

It's a sense making framework. As architects, we find that the Cynefin framework is a good thinking model.

In the Cynefin framework there are four domains and a fifth disorder domain. The first four domains are:
1. Clear, when something is well understood,
2. Complicated, it's understood by few,
3. Complex, where there are a lot of unknowns.
4. Chaos, when you don't know what's happening.

The 5th domain in the middle is called Confused.

If you understand which domain you're in, you can assess where you're at, and if you're not aware of where you are, you're just confused.

When you deal with situations and teams, it's sometimes easy to see the problem or situation. It falls under one of the domains and there are a bunch of practices to apply.

When something's well understood and clear, the practices are different than for something that's complex. There are different ways for you to handle situations. And if you're a manager, there are different ways to manage.

A chaotic project needs different practices to a project that you know well and when know what to do.

We explain each of the domains and we apply them to Software Development.

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ServerlessDays Belfast 2024.

ServerlessDays Belfast is back at Titanic Hotel Belfast on Thursday 23rd May 2024

Our theme is 'Building Beyond Boundaries: ServerlessDays Belfast celebrates the spirit of Innovation'. Find out why you should come to the birthplace of Titanic and what you can expect from this year's ServerlessDays Belfast.

From the 100-year-old Drawing Offices at Titanic Hotel Belfast, we will celebrate how the Serverless Mindset enables engineers and organisations to break barriers and build like never before. We ask our speakers to speak of the courage, ambition and resiliency needed to build big. We will showcase international and local speakers, attracting interest across Europe and the US. Most importantly, we want to inspire Engineers in Ireland, the UK and the local tech community.

Serverless has transcended technology and is now a synonym for Digital Transformation. Engineers working for large and small organisations need a dedicated space to hear and share innovation stories, with Serverless First as the enabler. Senior executives sense that Serverless is at the intersection of technology and business. Everyone needs a network to access the playbook for the Modern Cloud.

Everyone is welcome, especially:
Engineers who are curious by nature are excited to explore new technologies and ways of working.
Leaders seeking the latest solutions and innovations, including product managers, programme directors, and CTOs.
This event is a dedicated space for you to network, share, learn and become inspired about Serverless and Modern Cloud. We look forward to seeing you there!

What’s on offer
Food and Beverages
ServerlessDays Speaker Agenda: Listen to renowned experts on Serverless
Network with fellow attendees

ServerlessDays Belfast 2024 Call for Papers
We’re looking for speakers who can share their stories about how serverless technology has helped them achieve amazing things.
The theme for this year’s event is “Building Beyond Boundaries”. We want to celebrate the spirit of Innovation and share stories of real change. Tell us about something incredible that happened, how you felt and how the tech helped out.
If you’re interested in speaking, submit your talk by March 31st!
We will cover travel and accommodation expenses for speakers living outside commuting distance.
Take advantage of this opportunity to share your knowledge and experience with the serverless community on the island of Ireland.
Learn more and submit your talk on Sessionize.

serverlessdaysbelfast.com/
twitter.com/BFSServerless
linkedin.com/company/serverlessdays-belfast

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The Software Development Lifecycle - how does it apply to modern cloud?

We are kicking off this episode with the term modern SDLC. The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is changing. When you get into this new way of working, you start differently. It's no longer a straight waterfall/ABCD, or starting with an established system like SCRUM and iterating. So how do you get into a fast flow state? We have discovered a lot of things over the past couple of years. In this episode, we talk you through the phases of the modern software development lifecycle.

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