Start with three lists:
– Users (who)
– User needs (what)
– Components (to meet those needs)
Place components along evolution (Genesis → Custom → Product → Commodity) and position them by visibility (user-facing vs. back-end). The point is to see where to build vs. buy, and to avoid reinventing commodities. Mapping turns vague strategy debates into concrete sequencing.
This is scaffolding, not theater: definitions that don’t wobble, datasets you can trust, and views that help leaders change decisions, not request more slides. I connect event‑level signals to outcomes like effort, adoption, expansion, and risk. Then I kill anything that doesn’t move a decision. “When two leaders see different numbers for the same question,…
Good roadmaps state the bet, the evidence, and the kill criteria. If new evidence arrives and nothing changes, you don’t have a roadmap; you have a schedule.
Treating product‑market fit like a light switch leads to two failures: forcing growth into a hollow core or missing the window to scale. I break PMF into three questions: 1) Can we repeatedly reach the right users? 2) Do they convert for the reason we think? 3) Does value compound enough to keep them? Evidence…
If a component is on the right side of a Wardley map (product/commodity), default to buy unless it’s a differentiator or a constraint. If it’s left (genesis/custom), default to build if it underpins your unique value. Revisit quarterly.