244: How to Break Down a Complex Domain into Bounded Contexts

Bounded contexts as the most important aspect of DDD

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Unrelated: The Business Advantages of Event Storming

Reflect on your most recent project. How did the developers understand the domain model and build the system? This is where an event-storming session can be helpful. Two key terms must be understood to realize event storming: a domain event and a domain expert. It's important to note that these are business-domain concepts, not implementation concepts, that we are trying to identify with the workshop.

Event storming provides a business advantage because it aligns teams across departments. The technique is helpful because it helps to find consensus about the problem to tackle. It can also be used on a smaller scale.

Off Topic: How to Break Down a Complex Domain into Bounded Contexts

When faced with a complex issue, it's best to break it down into smaller subcategories. Using a common language for analysis and coding models is also essential. Dividing the model into smaller parts helps clarify any ambiguous language or if the model is too large for one team to handle. It should be enclosed within a boundary to protect the model's integrity. When working with multiple models, it's crucial to understand them in context.

Promoting business concepts when modeling a domain through the code base is vital. In this case, we will not be focusing on the technical platform, but instead, we will focus on the business process and how things move throughout the system. Teams that focus less on tactical patterns miss the point of DDD.

The most crucial aspect of domain-driven design is the bounded context. It's important not to focus on structural patterns. Bounded context encompasses what the organization does and the environment in which it operates. Each business sub-domain or department should be aligned with a Bounded Context.

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