Overview
The Fotango period is when Wardley developed the mapping framework, built Zimki (one of the first PaaS platforms), and experienced the institutional inertia that would become a central concept in his framework. As CEO of Fotango (a Canon Europe subsidiary), Wardley had both the authority to experiment with strategic approaches and the frustration of being overruled by a parent company that could not see the value of what he was building.
Key Developments
Significance
This is the foundational era for Wardley's intellectual framework. The mapping technique was born from practical necessity — Wardley needed to make strategic decisions and found existing tools inadequate. The Fotango/Zimki experience provided both the laboratory for developing the framework and the negative case study (institutional inertia defeating strategic insight) that would inform its central themes.