Methods
Event Storming
A workshop technique that maps a business process as a timeline of events, in the order they happen, using the words the business already uses.
Part of Digital Strategy & Discovery
Event Storming maps a business process as a sequence of things that happen: an order is placed, a payment is rejected, a shipment leaves the warehouse. Everyone who knows part of the process adds to one shared timeline, usually on a long wall or an online board.
Where it fits
Knowledge of how a process runs is often spread across several people, and the written procedure has drifted from what they do. The session brings those people together. It also shows where two departments describe the same step differently, which usually points to a business rule nobody has written down.
Working from events keeps the discussion in business terms, and the result maps well onto how systems are designed later. That makes it useful before integration or modernisation work, where misreading the current behaviour leads to rework.
Its limits
It needs the right people in the room for several hours, including the ones who handle exceptions. Without them, the timeline shows the official process. Detailed requirements still have to be written afterwards.
How we use it
We run it early, before the architecture is fixed. The output is the agreed timeline plus a list of the parts nobody was sure about, which become the first questions for requirements and design.
Related
Business Process Management, System Integration & API Development, Application Modernization