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Participant writing an event on a sticky note at the EventStorming wall

Focus

EventStorming

  • Make business domains tangible
  • Find a shared language
  • Build a foundation for architecture, design and team structure
Enquire about EventStorming

What is EventStorming?

EventStorming is a facilitated workshop format in which business experts, developers and other domain experts jointly tell the story of what happens in their domain — event by event, using sticky notes along a long wall.

From many individual perspectives, a shared picture emerges that no one had held alone before. Gaps, contradictions and open questions become visible before they become costly.

Facilitator explaining the problem breakdown at the flip chart

Typical situations

  • Business and IT speak different languages

    Requirements are misunderstood, follow-up questions pile up, and outcomes fail to meet the actual need. In the workshop, both sides tell the same story and develop a shared language.

  • Critical knowledge is concentrated in a few people’s heads

    A small number of people know how everything fits together, while everyone else depends on them for answers. The workshop makes this knowledge visible and shared, so it no longer depends on individuals — for example, ahead of a role change, departure or retirement.

  • Complexity is growing and there is no shared overview

    The domain is complex, and new team members, other departments or external partners struggle to find their way around. In the workshop, everyone develops a shared understanding of the bigger picture.

  • Teams or systems need to be restructured

    Where should sensible boundaries between teams, services or modules lie? Starting with the domain, we identify business boundaries that provide a foundation for architecture and team design.

Your benefits from EventStorming

  • Visualise and understand complex domains together
  • Develop a shared language and reduce misunderstandings
  • Make knowledge held by individuals accessible to everyone involved
  • Identify risks, hotspots and ideas early
  • Create alignment between product, business and technology
  • Establish a basis for decisions about architecture, design and team structure
EventStorming workshop by tangible concepts

EventStorming variants

Big Picture EventStorming

Creates a shared overview of the domain, makes relationships, dependencies and hotspots visible, and lays the groundwork for strategic decisions.

Process-Level EventStorming

Focuses on specific business processes, reveals flows, responsibilities and breakdowns, and makes opportunities for improvement tangible.

Software Design EventStorming

Translates domain insights into technical structures and supports the development of models, aggregates and interfaces.

Do you already know which variant suits your team, or would you like to find out together?

Enquire about EventStorming

An example of our approach

Every EventStorming is as unique as the underlying domain. That is why our approach does not follow a rigid script. Instead, it adapts to the goal, context and participants. The result is a structured yet flexible framework that leaves room for genuine insights.

1

Preparation

  • Clarify the problem space and define the workshop goal
  • Invite relevant stakeholders from business, product and technology
  • Prepare the Big Picture board, using a long paper roll or a digital board
2

Workshop

  • Explore the domain: collect important events together and make them visible
  • Arrange events chronologically and identify gaps and misunderstandings
  • Mark hotspots, risks and ambiguities
  • Derive structures, dependencies and potential bounded contexts
  • Add actors, processes, policies and external systems
3

Follow-up

  • Discuss insights and develop options for action
  • Consolidate the results and define next steps
  • Prepare and document the outcomes

Impressions from our EventStorming workshops

EventStorming workshop - large wall covered with colourful sticky notes
Participants placing events on a model wall
Facilitator explaining the events at the sticky note wall
Sticky notes in many colours ready for the workshop
Workshop participants placing post-its along the domain timeline
Overview of the workshop room with EventStorming wall

Frequently asked questions

In an EventStorming, knowledge holders from different disciplines and with different perspectives come together - e.g. business, IT, information security. In a guided, facilitated process, the group collaboratively builds a shared, cross-team understanding of workflows and facts. From the many individual perspectives, a shared picture emerges that no one held alone before.

Transformation projects in particular benefit strongly from EventStorming: over long periods of time, a lot of knowledge has built up, but it's often concentrated in individual people's heads - not everyone involved in the implementation can or needs to build up that same depth of knowledge. EventStorming makes the key terms and relationships visible and creates a shared language and a shared understanding across team and role boundaries.

EventStorming workshops can be scaled in depth. A Big Picture EventStorming is a compact starting point that first maps the subject matter from a bird's-eye view - depending on the goal, with a focus on core workflows, or already including details such as processed information, triggers, rules and actors. Even at this level, problem areas can be identified and flagged for later clarification. Building on this, further sessions can follow, sometimes with a different group of participants, to identify suitable boundaries (Process Level) and work out the software design (Software Design EventStorming).

The real outcome isn't the many sticky notes on the wall, but the shared understanding of the domain and of potentially problematic areas that need further attention. This breaks down communication barriers and reduces knowledge silos. The benefit is lasting and often continues to have an effect long after the session, e.g. through improved communication across organisational boundaries. We prepare a summary of every EventStorming workshop that the client can use as a basis for further activities - e.g. for software design, a shared glossary, or as a roadmap for next steps. The identified hotspots provide concrete action points as input for coordinated follow-up activities.

A key principle: bring together the people with the important questions and the people who have the answers. This dissolves barriers created by team and departmental boundaries. A typical composition is business and development - but it's not limited to that. Experts on cross-cutting topics such as security or data protection, as well as customer representatives, can also provide valuable input that feeds into the shared picture.

A compact session should be planned for at least half a day. Depending on the goal, it's worth deepening the results in successive rounds - possibly with a changing group composition. A typical schedule: a Big Picture EventStorming in the morning with business, development and further stakeholders in a large group, discussion and refinement of the results in the afternoon, and further sessions on Process or Design level with smaller subgroups on following days.

EventStorming can generally also take place remotely - though with some limitations. For large groups, most of whom are attending an EventStorming for the first time, we recommend an on-site session. Remote sessions work very well for groups of up to about 10 people with a clearly defined scope, ideally with teams experienced in the method.

The goal and the right group of participants are clarified in a preparatory conversation, which we consider part of our service. On-site workshops need a room with large, free wall space - free of tables and chairs. We bring all materials ourselves (pens, rolls of paper, plenty of sticky notes, tape, etc.). For remote sessions, we prepare digital whiteboards that remain available to the client after the workshop as well. The biggest pitfalls are unsuitable rooms or missing subject-matter experts in the room - we advise on both in advance.

We bring long-standing experience in various roles in software development. Our team can draw on deep experience across several industries, especially:
  • Insurance
  • Public sector
  • Energy
  • Logistics
We're also very much at home in other industries with similarly complex, often historically grown domains and high quality demands.

The price depends on scope and number of participants and is determined individually on request. Just let us know what you have in mind - we'll then put together a non-binding offer with a transparent price structure.
Kathi Asel

Your contact: Kathi Asel
In an initial conversation, we will clarify the goals, participants and setting for your EventStorming.

Let’s plan your EventStorming

Tell us about your domain and goals — we will get back to you promptly with a suitable proposal.