Digital Transformation Innovation with the Power of Event Storming

Embracing Innovation in an Organization’s Digital Transformation Journey: The Power of Event Storming and Big Picture Event Storming 

Introduction 

So, you’re working in a department within the organization overseeing teams and striving to ensure product delivery while also capturing the market’s attention with services to attract customers. You’ve had discussions with business units, gathered their feature requirements, and assembled a team capable of being agile. However, you require assistance aligning the perspectives of software developers, business analysts, and domain experts from different backgrounds. The gap in understanding between technical and non-technical stakeholders led to miscommunications, delays, and a fragmented vision of the project’s end goals. 

How do we create awareness between the different perspectives and tackle the challenge? 

Event Storming is a technique that teases collaboration by approaching miscommunication and misunderstanding with workshop sessions to bring clarity to implicit information and assumptions. It focuses on understanding business domains through the lens of domain events. This decision marked a moment in their project development strategy. 

Event storming in action 

To bring clarity, you need everybody from the domain to define a common understanding (e.g., Who is the client? What is the definition of a contract?). You can start by identifying key events in its application lifecycle. These events range from customer interactions, such as account creation and transactions, to backend processes like fraud detection and data analysis. By visualizing these events in a large workspace, the team begins to see the bigger picture, understanding how each component interacts within the system. 

Tangible outcomes 

One of the most significant outcomes of Event Storming is creating a shared visual language. It not only aids in the documentation of business processes but also serves as a vital tool for identifying problem areas and inefficiencies. It lays a solid foundation for designing systems that align with business needs, ensuring more effective and efficient solutions. 

Shared Understanding: A visual map that provides a common understanding and vision of the business process and what part of the process you can support. 

Problem Identification: Clear identification of bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or problematic areas in the business process. 

Foundation for Design and Documentation: Physical or digital records of events serve as a basis for designing software systems that are well-aligned with business needs, and these records are also helpful for future reference and onboarding. 

Intangible outcomes 

It fosters an environment of enhanced collaboration and communication, breaking down silos between departments. The diversity of perspectives can lead to innovative solutions that might not emerge in a more traditional setup. Additionally, involving team members in such a process can lead to a sense of empowerment and contribute to a more agile organizational culture. 

Improved Collaboration and Empowerment: Break the communication barriers and bring understanding between domain members who will feel more engaged and empowered as their knowledge and expertise are valued. 

Innovation: Through collective brainstorming, the group can generate new ideas and solutions for business problems. 

Agility: The organization becomes more agile in responding to changes as a deeper understanding of the domain allows for quicker adjustments. 

Scaling the awareness from the domain to the cross-teams 

Big Picture Event Storming takes a more holistic approach. It involves a broader range of participants, including stakeholders from various departments, to sketch the entire business process. The focus shifts from domain events to the overall workflow, providing a comprehensive view of how different parts of the organization interconnect and interact. 

Conclusion 

Event Storming and Big Picture Event Storming are gateways to a deeper understanding of complex context landscapes. Facilitating a holistic view of processes and encouraging collaboration across different departments enables organizations to tackle challenges more effectively. Whether you’re looking to streamline operations, enhance team collaboration, or drive innovation, these approaches offer a path to achieving those goals. 

Have you ever participated in an Event Storming session? Share your experiences with us on LinkedIn or X! For those keen to dive deeper into this topic, watch for upcoming workshops and resources. 

I encourage you to check out this article on the Event Storming technique if you’d like to learn more about why and how you should consider using it. The article is written from a change agent perspective by my colleagues Evellyn van Kelle and João Rosa.