Event Storming is a collaborative workshop technique invented by Alberto Brandolini in 2013 for rapidly exploring complex business domains through visual modeling with sticky notes. Rooted in Domain-Driven Design (DDD), it brings together domain experts, developers, and stakeholders in a highly interactive session to discover domain events, processes, and system boundaries. The technique's power lies not just in the model created, but in the shared understanding gained when diverse perspectives converge on a single timeline. A key principle: use an unlimited modeling surface (long paper rolls on walls) to avoid the artificial constraints of whiteboards — spatial freedom enables deeper exploration and prevents premature simplification of complex domains.
What This Cheat Sheet Covers
This topic spans 10 focused tables and 68 indexed concepts. Below is a complete table-by-table outline of this topic, spanning foundational concepts through advanced details.
Table 1: EventStorming Flavors
| Flavor | Example | Description |
|---|---|---|
Workshop with 15-30 participants mapping entire business domain over 4-8 hours | • Discovery-focused exploration to understand the whole domain landscape at high level • identifies domain events, actors, external systems, hot spots, and emergent bounded contexts • ideal for new projects, legacy modernization, or cross-team alignment | |
Detailed modeling of "order fulfillment" process showing commands, policies, read models | • Zooms into a specific process or use case to expose detailed flows, business rules, bottlenecks, and alternatives • adds commands, policies, read models, and constraints • bridges discovery and design |