Session Brief: Domain Storytelling

Goal

Artifact: Domain Story

Working Question

How does this business case really run today, who is involved when, with what, and where do friction and translation errors occur?

Context

Selected story in one sentence; known actors; relevant documents or systems appearing in the story; open questions from previous sessions.

Setup

• Format: Method session
• Duration: 1-2 h
• Mode: Workshop
• Participants: One facilitator who draws the story and asks follow-up questions; one to two domain experts as storytellers; one to three developers or additional stakeholders as listeners and clarifiers; one scribe for glossary.
• Owner: One facilitator who draws the story and asks follow-up questions
• Participation mode: Team round, shared work and alignment
• Outcome logic: Finish artifact

Participation Logic

Use the session for shared understanding. Contributions are collected visibly, assumptions are aligned, and open differences remain traceable in the artifact.

Outcome Logic

The session works directly toward Domain Story. After the session, the artifact should be shareable, reviewable, or reusable.

Input

Whiteboard or digital board (Miro with Domain Storytelling template, egon.io); pictograms for actors (stick figures) and work objects (documents, databases, letters); numbered arrows (1-15) for activities; camera for snapshots.

Preparation

Use the board horizontally, with the first actor on the left. Explain notation (Actor, Work Object, numbered arrows, annotations). Rule: draw the story in one pass, then refine it. The storyteller speaks, the facilitator draws.

Agenda

1. Phase 1: Confirm story selection (5 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: Read the preselected story aloud. Clarify granularity (coarse-grained, fine-grained, as-is, to-be). Demonstrate notation on the first step as an example. Hint: Avoid mixed variants. A story is either as-is or to-be, never both. Otherwise the diagram describes a non-existing state. Output: Domain Story

2. Phase 2: Draw story (first pass) (30-45 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: Domain expert tells story linearly, facilitator draws in parallel. Per activity: Actor + numbered arrow + Work Object + recipient actor where applicable. No interruptions for detail debates in this pass. Hint: Use annotations for branches ('sometimes', 'when X'). More than 15-20 arrows indicate too fine a granularity; split the story. Output: Glossary Notes

3. Phase 3: Refinement and follow-up questions (20-30 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: Second pass with clarifying questions. Mark unclear handoffs, exceptions, and workarounds. Mark pain points in red annotations. Extract glossary terms. Hint: Pain points are the most valuable result. If none emerge, the facilitator asks specifically about exceptions, manual rework, and escalations. Output: Process Narrative

4. Phase 4: Extract language and rules (15-20 min) Owner: Facilitator Action: Collect ubiquitous language terms (actor names, work object names, domain verbs). Capture implicit rules from the story as short sentences (for example, 'An order is canceled if payment does not arrive within 7 days'). Hint: If the same word has different meanings in different activities, capture this explicitly. It is usually a context shift signal. Output: Domain Story

5. Phase 5: Snapshot and follow-up (10 min) Owner: Owner Action: Photo or export the diagram. Prioritize pain points and assign owners. Plan follow-up stories (neighbor processes, to-be version, exceptions). Hint: A story is not enough by itself. Plan at least three stories per domain; otherwise the picture covers only one slice and conclusions are biased. Output: Glossary Notes

6. Publish artifact (10 min) Owner: Owner Action: Check the artifact for completeness, define location, set version or status, and name review recipients. Output: Domain Story

Closeout

• Update result artifact: Domain Story
• Define location, version, and review recipients.
• Define owner, next step, and review date.

Domain Story: Domain Storytelling

Working Question

How does this business case really run today, who is involved when, with what, and where do friction and translation errors occur?

Context

Selected story in one sentence; known actors; relevant documents or systems appearing in the story; open questions from previous sessions.

Participants

• Owner: One facilitator who draws the story and asks follow-up questions
• Participants: One facilitator who draws the story and asks follow-up questions; one to two domain experts as storytellers; one to three developers or additional stakeholders as listeners and clarifiers; one scribe for glossary.

Input

Whiteboard or digital board (Miro with Domain Storytelling template, egon.io); pictograms for actors (stick figures) and work objects (documents, databases, letters); numbered arrows (1-15) for activities; camera for snapshots.

Template

Domain Storytelling Working Template

Goal

A visual method for modeling business processes as concrete stories.

Context

When and for what do we use this method?

Input

Which data, observations, decisions, or materials are available?

Execution

Short notes along the runsheet.

Output artifacts

• Domain Story:
• Glossary Notes:
• Process Narrative:

Assumptions and open questions

• ...

Decision / Next step

Owner, date, and success signal.

Completion Check

• Domain Story is complete enough for review:
• Location:
• Version / status:
• Review by:
• Next step:

Next Step

• Review result
• Mark open questions
• Schedule review or decision