Landscape

As explained in Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure

A landscape is the set of products, services, capabilities, entities, and relationships relevant to an organization’s competitive and strategic situation.

Landscape captures the products, services, capabilities, practices, competitors, and other relationships that shape an organization’s strategic situation. section 5.1 section 5.6

Use it as the second step of the Strategy Cycle: understand the current landscape before considering external forces, organizational doctrine, or leadership decisions. section 5.1 section 5.6

Construct a landscape map progressively:

• Define the purpose and scope of the map. section 5.6
• Identify relevant users and articulate each user’s needs. section 5.6
• Construct value chains from components serving each need. section 5.6
• Place components on an evolutionary map: genesis, custom built, product, or commodity. section 5.6

Modernization landscape

A collaborative mapping exercise can expose strategic risks such as having no future differentiators or investing heavily in components that cannot create advantage. section 5.6

Figure 5.1 The Strategy Cycle (Source: Simon Wardley)

Use the Strategy Cycle visual to connect landscape mapping with purpose, climate, doctrine, and leadership. section 5.1

How Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure covers it

How deep it goes

Explains scope, users, needs, value chains, relationships, and four evolutionary stages for constructing a strategic map.

Examples

Uses value-chain maps, mapping canvases, evolutionary stages, and modernization risks as concrete teaching artifacts.

What it assumes

Starts with organizational purpose, then establishes map scope, users, and user needs before building value chains.

What you can do after

Apply it via Wardley Mapping to construct value chains and identify strategic risks and opportunities.

How it connects

Connects landscape with Wardley Mapping, the Strategy Cycle, purpose, climate, doctrine, leadership, and Event Storming.

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Related concepts

• Strategy Cyclepart of · The Strategy Cycle is an iterative framework for examining strategic context and guiding organizational orientation, decisions, and actions.
• business problemhas part · A business problem is an organizational need, objective, constraint, or challenge that a proposed solution is intended to address.
• opportunityhas part · An opportunity is a prospective favorable possibility or circumstance that can support progress toward an objective or create value.
• Wardley Mappingused by · Wardley Mapping is a visual strategy technique that maps user needs and supporting components in a value chain and positions them by evolutionary maturity.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.