Cowboys, Frontiersmen, Settlers, Townspeople, Cityfolk

Wardley's original post on this [0] is worth a read. OP adds cowboys and city folk, and makes it a bit more personal.

5 interesting things that are worth making explicit:

1. These teams/roles are as much about appetite and attitude, as they are about someone's skills and capabilities. Some people just aren't comfortable or happy when operating in these environments.

2. Innovation isn't just at the early "0 to 1" stages. Townspeople need to innovate to scale from a million users to a billion.

3. Successful orgs have teams at all stages, working together. Each team evolves what the previous stage built. And cowboys / pioneers are only successful if they can build on industrialised components.

5. As a product evolves, it moves through the stages. Teams either need to let go, or change their way of working.

[0] https://blog.gardeviance.org/2015/03/on-pioneers-settlers-to...