As an experienced Scrum Master with PSM certification and an Agile Coach, I facilitate teams’ progress toward common goals and focus on improving dynamics and performance. Throughout the years of my professional work, I have been responsible for supporting and enforcing the Scrum process and other rules that the team has agreed on.

Agnieszka Pawlicka

My role as a Business Analyst is to get the best understanding of the client's business and its surroundings. Focusing on end-users' needs and pains along with analyzing the market trends allows me to help you with mitigating any related risks.

Maciej Hubert

\[TOC\]

As businesses grow, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage complex processes and identify issues that may be affecting the organization's overall performance. Event Storming is a technique that can help businesses gain a better understanding of their processes, and identify opportunities for improvement. In particular, Big Picture session is a useful tool in Event Storming that provides a visual representation of the entire business process.

In this article, I will explore how Big Picture can help you improve your business processes, identify bottlenecks in your operations and how you can implement it effectively. I will also provide benefits of Event Storming, including communication and collaboration improvements and making more informed decisions. In my [previous article](https://selleo.com/blog/event-storming-how-it-will-improve-your-business-processes-) you could find information on how  Event Storming as a whole technique can improve your business. Now, I will focus on the Big Picture session as its one core technique in more detail.

## What is  Event Storming?

Before going into details, let’s recall what  Event Storming is. So, it is a workshop-based technique that was developed by Alberto Brandolini, an Italian software engineer. It's a collaborative process that involves bringing together people from different parts of the organization to map out the entire business process. The goal of Event Storming is to create a shared understanding of how the process works, and to identify areas where improvements can be made.

![three main levels of Abstraction for Event Storming](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/870x463/cc0674ffc3/tabelka_three-main-levels-od-abs.png)

## What is Big Picture Event Storming?

Big Picture is a key component of Event Storming, a technique used for collaborative exploration and discovery of complex business domains. At its core, it is a way to create high-level visual representation of the entire business process. It involves breaking down a complex process into smaller, more manageable steps and representing them in a logical sequence on a wall or whiteboard using sticky notes, markers, or other visual aids, including digital collaboration tools.

The purpose of Big Picture is to give participants a broad overview of the process, to create a shared understanding of the process among all participants. By creating a visual representation of the entire business, Big Picture session can help to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and other issues that may be affecting the process.

In this article, we'll take a closer look at what the Big Picture  is, how it works, and how it can be used to improve your business processes.

## How Does Big Picture Event Storming Work?

Big Picture session typically involves a group of people working together in a collaborative session. It relates to all stakeholders, including team members who are involved in the process, as well as managers, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders who may have an interest in the outcome.

The facilitator of the session guides the participants through the process of creating the process map. They may provide prompts or questions to help guide the discussion and keep the group focused on the task at hand.

Participants use sticky notes to capture information about the process, including the steps involved, the events that occur at each step, and any pain points or inefficiencies in the process. Once all the information has been captured, the facilitator works with the group to organize the sticky notes into a logical sequence on the wall or whiteboard.

The resulting process map is a visual representation of the business process that can be used to identify areas for improvement. By analyzing the map, stakeholders can identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, and develop a plan to address them.

<Baner name={scrum-master} />

## Benefits of Big Picture Session

Big Picture mapping offers several benefits to businesses that use it. First and foremost, it can help to create a shared understanding of a complex process among all stakeholders. By working together to create the process map, stakeholders can gain a better understanding of the process, and identify areas where improvements can be made.

Big Picture can also help to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies in the process. By creating a visual representation of the process, stakeholders can see where delays and other issues are occurring, and develop a plan to address them.

Finally, Big Picture can help to improve communication and collaboration among team members. By working together in a collaborative session, team members can build trust and develop a shared sense of purpose.

Big Picture mapping is a powerful tool for businesses looking to gain a better understanding of their processes and identify areas for improvement. By breaking down complex processes into smaller, more manageable steps, and creating a visual representation of the process, stakeholders can identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and other issues, and develop a plan to address them. With the benefits of Big Picture session outlined in this article, businesses can start incorporating this tool into their process improvement efforts and drive success.

## How to Implement Big Picture Event Storming

![how to implement big picture event](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/870x463/31c63d5911/how_to_implement_big_picture_event.png)

Implementing Big Picture mapping in your business involves several steps. Here's a step-by-step guide:

### Step 1: Plan and Prepare for the Session

The first step in implementing Big Picture mapping is to plan and prepare for the session. This involves identifying the participants who will be involved, booking a suitable location, and setting a date and time for the session. It's very important to ensure that all key stakeholders are included, including team members who are involved in the process, as well as managers, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders who may have an interest in the outcome.

When planning the session, consider the logistics of the space you'll be using. You'll need a large enough space to accommodate the entire team, and a wall or whiteboard where you can display the process map. Make sure you have all the materials you'll need, such as sticky notes, markers, and any digital tools you plan to use. If you plan to organize the Big Picture workshops remotely, please check my [previous article](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-run-a-remote-event-storming-session) on how to run an online  Event Storming session.

### Step 2: Define the Business Process

The next step is to define the business process that you want to map out. This could be anything from a customer journey to a manufacturing process. Make sure you have a clear understanding of the process before you begin. This may involve conducting research, gathering data, and talking to team members who are involved in the process Once you've defined the process, break it down into smaller steps that can be easily mapped out. This will help ensure that the mapping session is manageable and doesn't become overwhelming.

### Step 3: Conduct the Session

During the Big Picture session, participants work together to map out the entire business process. This involves identifying the different steps in the process, and the events that occur at each step. Participants use sticky notes to capture information, and place them on the whiteboard or digital tool in a logical sequence.

It's important to encourage participation from all team members and create an environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing their ideas. Keep the discussion focused on the business process being mapped out, and avoid getting sidetracked by unrelated issues.

To help guide the discussion, you may want to use prompts or questions to elicit information from participants. For example, you could ask:

* What are the key steps in the process?
* What events trigger each step in the process?
* What information is needed at each step?
* What are the pain points in the process?

[Here](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-run-your-first-event-storming-session) you can find guidance on how to run your first  Event Storming session.

<ReadMore> Read also: [How To Run A Remote Event Storming Session?](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-run-a-remote-event-storming-session) </ReadMore>

### Step 4: Analyze the Results

Once the Big Picture session is complete, it's important to analyze the results. This involves reviewing the process map, and identifying areas where improvements can be made. Look for bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and other issues that may be affecting the process. Once you've identified the issues, prioritize them based on their impact on the process, and develop a plan to address them.

It's important to share the results of the Big Picture mapping session with all stakeholders, and to involve them in the development of the improvement plan. This will help ensure buy-in and support for the changes that will be made.

In conclusion, implementing Big Picture in your business can be a powerful tool for gaining a better understanding of your processes, and identifying areas for improvement. By following the steps outlined above, you can successfully implement Big Picture mapping in your organization and drive success.

## Tips for Successful Big Picture Session

![tips for successful Big Picture Session](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/870x463/f2f2c138be/tips_for_successful.png)

Big Picture mapping can be an incredibly effective tool for improving business processes, but it requires careful planning and execution to be successful. Here are some tips to help ensure your Big Picture session is productive and to help you get the most out of your Big Picture mapping sessions:

### 1. Define the scope

Before you start your Big Picture session, it's important to define the scope of the process you're mapping. Be clear about what you want to achieve and what you hope to gain from the exercise. This will help ensure that everyone involved in the session is focused and working towards the same goals.

### 2. Identify and Invite the Right Participants

It's important to invite the right people to the mapping session, so it must be a diverse group of stakeholders. This includes anyone who is involved in the process, as well as stakeholders who may have an interest in the outcome. Make sure everyone involved in the session understands their role and is committed to participating fully. Ideally, you should have 6-8 people with the right mixture of the ones who know the questions to ask and who are curious to listen to the answers and the ones who actually know the answers.

<Baner name={agile-team} />

### 3. Create a Collaborative Environment

Encourage participation from all team members and create an environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing their ideas. It is extremely important to provide unlimited modeling space - it can be either a wide wall for sticky notes or a very long piece of paper and a relaxed atmosphere.

### 4. Set clear guidelines

To keep the session focused and productive, it's important to establish clear guidelines for how the process will be mapped. This might include rules around how information is captured on sticky notes, how ideas are shared, and how decisions are made.

### 5. Stay Focused on the Business Process

Make sure the discussion stays focused on the business process being mapped out. Avoid getting sidetracked by unrelated issues. It is good to make extra effort to engage all the attendees. The facilitator needs to put special attention to that since it is easy for participants to distract and disengage during the long workshop.

### 6. Use a facilitator

![use a facilitator](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/870x463/97abf0854d/use_a_facilitator_v1.png)

A facilitator can be a valuable asset during a Big Picture session. They can help keep the session on track, guide the discussion, and ensure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute. If possible, consider hiring an external facilitator who can bring a fresh perspective to the session.

### 7. Embrace iteration

The first iteration of your Big Picture map is unlikely to be perfect, and that's okay. Use the initial map as a starting point and iterate on it as you gather feedback and new information. The goal is to create a map that accurately represents the process and identifies areas for improvement.

### 8. Focus on outcomes

The ultimate goal of Big Picture Event Storming is to improve business processes, so make sure you're focused on outcomes throughout the session. Use the insights gathered during the mapping exercise to identify specific actions that can be taken to improve the process. Use the mapping results to drive improvements in the process. Prioritize the issues identified during the Big Picture session, and develop a plan to address them.

### 9. Follow up

After your Big Picture mapping session is complete, make sure to follow up with stakeholders to ensure that the insights gathered are put into action. Develop a plan for implementing changes and track progress towards your goals.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your Big Picture session is productive, engaging, and leads to meaningful improvements in your business processes.

<ReadMore> Read also: [The Agile Mindset: Cultivating Agile Values In A Remote Environment](https://selleo.com/blog/the-agile-mindset-cultivating-agile-values-in-a-remote-environment) </ReadMore>

## Conclusion

Big Picture mapping is a powerful tool in  Event Storming that can help businesses gain a better understanding of their processes, and identify areas for improvement. By implementing Big Picture, businesses can create a shared understanding of their processes, and identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies that may be affecting their overall performance. With the tips outlined in this article, businesses can start implementing Big Picture mapping in their organizations to improve their business processes and drive success.

Learn how to improve your business processes with Event Storming. Discover how a big picture approach can provide insights into your operations.

 Event Storming In Action: How To Use Big Picture To Improve Your Business Processes

Discovery Phase is one of the most discussed topics in the business world. In this article, we will delve into the specifics and answer the question of "What is it and why should I care?".

Why Discovery Phase Is Essential For Startups?

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, a lot of workshops, conferences and events have been cancelled. Some organizations decided to **switch to a virtual world** and conduct them remotely but it demands accurate preparations.

Shifting to a remote-only Event Storming session requires a **different approach** to be as successful as an in-person event. As in the offline session, things may not go as planned; flexibility and adaptation to the unexpected will go a long way in delivering a valuable outcome. This reality increases in a remote-only setting because it’s much more difficult to run a collaboration workshop, monitor body language, and quickly course correct.

Therefore, in this post, I will share with you some tips and tricks on how to run an effective Event Storming session in a remote manner.

## What is Event Storming?

Before we go into details, let’s recall what Event Storming is. It is a workshop technique proposed by Albert Brandolin, specially dedicated to doing it offline. Its core value is placed in **gathering all necessary people in one room** in order to run a fruitful conversation and discussion in a workshop-based environment. More about Event Storming and its business values you can read in my article on [Event Storming: How It Will Improve Your Business Processes?](https://selleo.com/blog/event-storming-how-it-will-improve-your-business-processes-)

In-person Event Storming is a **collaborative experience** that demands the active participation of engaged people and proper facilitation. Facilitation techniques focus on giving everyone a voice and making implicit knowledge and uncovered issues explicit on the wall. When done well, an Event Storming session can align a technical team and domain experts towards a shared understanding of a complex domain. In my last article, you will learn [How To Run Your First Event Storming Session](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-run-your-first-event-storming-session).

<Baner name={scrum-master} />

## Best Practices For Remote Event Storming Session

### Right people to the right meeting

All the usual prerequisites about having the right people in place still apply. However, consider the overall number of participants, so invite only those representing different areas of expertise and various stakeholders. Too many people may disrupt the discussion flow and make it hard for everyone to be able to contribute. Don’t invite more than **5-8 people**.

### Agenda and invitation

To ensure you invite the right people to the right meeting, **prepare an agenda**, so it is clear what the meeting will cover. Send it to all invited attendees and make sure that they confirmed their participation in the meeting.

### Meeting facilitator(s)

Ensure that you have a meeting facilitator, best more than one for the remote session. Check if facilitators know which tools and practices they will use and are confident to deliver them to attendees (having tested before). It is suggested to have **at least two facilitators** in order to split between one who is facilitating and a second one who is keeping an eye on the engagement of attendees and tracking time and agenda/activities.

### Plan the meeting

Prepare a template on a whiteboard tool with a title and steps to be covered and be clear on the fact that everyone is a contributor, so it is good to timebox each step. Event Storming can take time to create depending on the complexity of the scenario, so if you are organising long workshops consider **breaking them down into smaller sessions** with breaks. It is better to plan for multiple remote sessions with virtual breaks. If the whole team is not able to join, ensure everyone is on the same page working on the same target outcome.

<ReadMore> Read also: [Agile Software Development Process – Everything You Need to Know](https://selleo.com/blog/agile-software-development-process-everything-you-need-to-know) </ReadMore>

### Timebox the meeting

**Use a timer** to timebox a session or ask the facilitator to keep an eye on the time. Some online tools have built-in timers. Alternatively, you can use a physical timer or a separate online tool to show the time ticking, which is either visible to all or at least the facilitator tracking time. Time-box every discussion, otherwise not involved participants will lose their focus.  
However it is also important to have time for energising the participants and keeping them engaged, so plan the time for the activities described below while planning the remote Event Storming session.

### Set the basic knowledge

If you are using practices that are new to attendees or have newbies with Event Storming at the meeting, **plan the time to explain** what will be done and which practices will be used. You may consider sending out links beforehand but do not assume that participants will have time to look into them.

If possible, conduct a short introductory training session in advance for all participants to become familiar with the online collaboration tool before the session begins. Also, consider scheduling a mock Event Storm to familiarize the participants with techniques, expectations and outcomes. This will relieve anxiety during the real Event Storming session.

### Ensure video and connection

Workshops demands using video conferencing software and all participants must have the **video camera turned on** with no exceptions. Software should be installed and tested in advance to avoid any technical issues. There is no room for solving technical problems during the workshops.

As a must, all participants should have a stable Internet connection with adequate bandwidth available. It is important because dropped connections can be really disruptive.

### Prepare and check tools

Decide on what tools you plan to use during the remote session and validate that everyone has access to tools and knows how to use them.

Prepare an **online collaboration board**, e.g. using [Miro](https://miro.com/) or [Mural](https://www.mural.co/), with an Event Storm key and space set out to create the Event Storm.

We use a Miro Board and recommend it as the tool effectively provides an infinite online whiteboard space in a way that everyone can interact with in real-time. Prepare appropriate Miro boards for particular sessions in advance and back up all of your boards after the session. Use a separate board or frame within a board for each activity conducted during the Event Storming sessions. Note down a canvas legend of terms and ensure it’s visible for participants at all times.

### Engage attendees

In order to engage participants in the meeting and make conversation easier, first of all, ensure that they are connected with video on. However, you should let the participants know that the cameras need to be switched on upfront; you can mention it in the invitation.

During the meeting, the facilitator(s) should ask open questions and leave participants in silence to encourage their participation. It is good to make extra effort to engage all the attendees. Use Ice Breaker practices to keep people engaged at the start and also throughout the workshop to re-energise. [Here](https://www.sessionlab.com/library/energiser) you can find examples of icebreaking and energising activities and [here](https://conceptboard.com/blog/icebreakers-in-virtual-teams/) are the five most interesting ones which you can use online easily.

### Have fun

Host the meeting with **good humour and a positive attitude**, which will help you keep the energy of the participants high. From time to time you can paste on board some funny meme that is related somehow to the current discussion or talk funny, but short stories during the breaks or at the very beginning of each session. This will help your group feel more relaxed but energised at the same time.

### Do not give up

Even though not everything will go smoothly during your first Event Storming remote session, do not resign after that. It will get better with the experience. Running online Event Storming sessions is not an easy task and it requires a bit of practice. Keep hosting other remote meetings and check what went better in time.

<Baner name={agile-team} />

## Online Facilitation Tips

Unlike a traditional Event Storming held offline where bandwidth is infinite, online Event Storming only has a single channel for all participants. Providing an effective way for all participants to contribute to the workshops is critical and it works quite differently compared to the onsite workshops. Here are various tips and tricks for facilitating remote Event Storming session:

* Plan to have **two facilitators** as this helps to maintain the level of energy required to keep participants engaged in a virtual setting as well as to manage comments and hot spots. A primary facilitator in order to merge the model and enforce a timeline while reconciling all the stickies brings the relevant parties into the discussion. A secondary facilitator in parallel will be looking for subtle cues, nonverbal cues, bringing folks into the conversation, or pulling on critical issues.
* **Capture all assumptions**, hotspots and comments on stickies and make them visible — but be mindful of interrupting the storyteller or the main facilitator.
* **Address all the hot spots and questions** while enforcing the timeline. The model should be merged and a narrative should be built forward, backward, and from the middle, as it will identify critical missing pieces when different perspectives are taken for the same process.
* **Discuss only what is visible**. Make every discussion visible on the Miro board as stickies.
* **Run an online session in chunks** of 10 to 15 minutes, alternating between silent ideation and facilitated model merging. Replay the narrative to all groups at regular intervals.
* **Prepare two screens** \- one for the online collaboration board (e.g. Miro Board), which you will share with the participants and work on. The second one with the video conferencing view of the participants (e.g. Zoom dashboard view) to see if people are bored, if they finished a given task already or if they are not engaged. It is also to get inspired by their smiles and laughter.
* **Learn the tool of your choice** \- spend some time with Miro or Mural board before the workshops. Play around with grouping, selecting, duplicating etc. Get to know the keyboard shortcuts. Just practice because as a facilitator you want to be fast and efficient.

<ReadMore> Read also: [7 Agile Best Practices You Should Know](https://selleo.com/blog/7-agile-best-practices-you-should-know) </ReadMore>

## Tools for Remote Event Storming

In order to run an Event Storming session remotely, you definitely need some online tools that have sticky notes of different colours and sizes and allow real-time collaboration.

Below you will find a short description of the three most popular of them with links to additional information together with pricing.

### Miro

[Miro](https://miro.com/) is a collaborative online whiteboard platform designed for remote and distributed teams. Here are some of the top features of Miro for remote workshops and meetings: infinite canvas, freeform collaboration (easy freehand drawing with the pen tool),  smart drawing (automatically convert your drawings into shapes), sticky notes and offline stickies capture, attention management,  screen sharing, voting, timer, and video chat.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/999x665/944bb21885/image2.png)

*Screenshot of Miro whiteboard tool from [Miro.](https://miro.com/)* 

In their free plan you can have a team with **unlimited team members**, but have only such features included: 3 editable boards, anonymous board viewers, premade templates, core integrations, basic attention management. If you want to boost your collaboration and workflow using Miro, you should consider purchasing a plan for small teams. Here you can find the [pricing](https://miro.com/pricing/).

### Mural

[Mural](http://mural.ly/) is a digital workspace for online collaboration, which enables distributed team members to think and collaborate visually to solve important problems and facilitate online meetings and workshops. Using Mural, you can create **various diagrams**, which are popular in design thinking and agile methodologies. Here you can find the[ pricing plan ](https://www.mural.co/pricing)for Mural.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/1729x904/1f12e2c634/image1.png)

*Screenshot of Mural whiteboard tool from [Mural.](https://www.mural.co/enterprise)*

### Lucidchart

[Lucidchart](https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/) is an online tool that offers an **intuitive interface and hundreds of templates**, helping your teams communicate complex systems, processes, and ideas with visuals. According to their [blog article](https://www.lucidchart.com/blog/ddd-event-storming) on EventStorming using Lucidchart you can save time and improve outcomes of your workshops thanks to the following features of Lucidchart:

* unlimited canvas space,
* real-time collaboration,
* remote accessibility,
* customizable shapes, lines, colours,
* data linking options.

Here you can find a [pricing plan](https://app.lucidchart.com/users/registerLevel#/pricing) for the Lucidchart tool.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/670x400/1a76b91146/image3.png)

*Screenshot of Lucidchart whiteboard tool from [Lucidchart](https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/).*

Summing up, the reality is that all these tools are very similar, and you can’t go wrong with whichever one you choose. The online capabilities of each platform are truly impressive. Each tool has limitless white space that you can structure through frames, which are essentially slides. This allows facilitators of online workshops to frame content for participants, and the limitless working space gives users the ability to move from idea generation to idea development quickly.

## Summary

The Inventor of Event Storming, Alberto Brandolini mentioned at the very beginning that Event Storming does not work well for remote sessions, but soon in the future, a couple of online tools which facilitate the session were implemented and it appeared that running effective online Event Storming sessions is possible.

Truly, you cannot conduct an online workshop as a traditional one, converting only people’s attention from the real board to the virtual one. However, having best practices and facilitation tips in mind you need to create a **different plan** for the remote Event Storming session to conduct it effectively.

With some preparation for the remote workshop and a positive attitude, you will run a successful Event Storming session in a remote manner overcoming the possible challenges and taking all the benefits from virtual collaborative modelling.

Shifting to a remote-only Event Storming session requires a different approach. In this post, I will share with you some tips and tricks on how to run it effectively while staying remote.

How To Run A Remote Event Storming Session? 

Event Storming is an engaging technique for rapidly modelling a process as events along a timeline by business and technical people together during the Event Storming workshop. This storming method is very useful for creating a business model for the development projects and obtaining a shared understanding of important business problems.

If you have been researching Event Storming you probably started to wonder how to run the first successful session. If that is the case, this article is for you. It will take you through the setup process, the structure of the event and provide you with useful information on how to organise it properly.

## What is Event Storming?

Just a quick reminder, Event Storming is a workshop-based method used to find out what is going on in the domain of software programs. It has its roots in domain-driven design approach (DDD) and is used to create a business model. As a result of the Big Picture workshop, you can visualize the model of the product with its complexity, highlighting its goals, opportunities and uncovered issues. The results of an Event Storming session are presented on a wide wall using the sticky notes, where each event is represented by a separate sticky note.

The power of this session is impressive as during the couple hours you can really identify gaps, bottlenecks and areas of conflicts as well as discuss solutions. You can find more about the benefits of Event Storming in my latest article [Event Storming: How It Will Improve Your Business Processes?](https://selleo.com/blog/event-storming-how-it-will-improve-your-business-processes-)

## Define your needs: Collaborative Discovery

An Event Storming session usually starts with a topic the group wants to work on during the session. The first step is to define your needs.

Examples of these topics may include:

* getting everyone on the same page with the problem definition,
* exploring a particular area of business;
* looking for ways to improve an existing business capability;
* discovering and designing work for a new business capability;
* challenging a proposed software solution by modelling the domain in several different ways.

As with any other workshop session, a big part of a facilitator’s job is to help the participants align quickly around the goals, approach and timebox for the session.

It’s important to invite the right people to the workshop, striving for a diverse mixture of people with the relevant business and technical experience. Involve the appropriate subject matter experts (e.g. users, product owners, business analysts, representatives from other teams, etc.) to participate and share their insights on the business.

Event Storming is a facilitated workshop and it is important to follow some steps which help to run a session effectively.

In the next sections, I will highlight the key steps necessary to set up an effective Event Storming session and describe briefly what the typical Event Storming workshop looks like.

<Baner name={scrum-master} />

## How to set up the workshop: basic steps to follow

It is important for an effective Event Storming session to follow the basic steps. Below you can find the key requirements and elements you should arrange to facilitate the Event Storming workshop successfully.

<div className="col-12 blog-yt"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowFullScreen" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/a0lWpjlSRA0?ecver=1&iv_load_policy=1&rel=0&yt:stretch=16:9&autohide=1&color=red&" height="100%" width="100%" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0"></div>

### Organize The Right People

The key element of a successful Event Storming session is to invite and gather a group of people who know their stuff, i.e. software developers who can ask questions about what should happen and how the system should behave together with business representatives who know the answers to those questions. Ideally, you should have 6-8 people with the right mixture of the ones who know the questions to ask and who are curious to listen to the answers and the ones who actually know the answers.  You also need a facilitator to guide them through the process of exploring events, commands and grouping them into aggregates if you don’t want or can’t be such a person or just feel more comfortable if you have assistance in that manner.

### Organize The Right Space

It is extremely important to provide unlimited modelling space - it can be either a wide wall for sticky notes or a very long piece of paper and a relaxed atmosphere.

Too often complex problems are not properly analyzed because there is not enough space available to dig into the problem. The facilitator of the session has to remain focused on the available area during the session in order to create more modelling space before the participants notice that there is no more room to add a sticky note. It is to not break the flow which participants are in and lose the momentum or a great idea. When they stop it will be difficult for them to get back on the track.

Brandolini advises that all tables and chairs should be removed for the session time and the participants should stand in front of the wide wall.

### Have Workshop Facilitator

Having all the relevant people in the same room, without a plan on how to manage the interaction between them could be a recipe for a disaster. A facilitator knows what to do in order to keep the workshop running smoothly and keep the participants engaged and focused. He/she can offer the instructions on the Event Storming session and make corrections without disrupting the momentum of the storming out.

During the session, the facilitator asks open questions and leaves participants in silence to encourage their participation. It is good to make extra effort to engage all the attendees. The facilitator needs to put special attention to that since it is easy for participants to distract and disengage during the long workshop.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/720x266/c127f556e0/event-storming-team.png)

### Prepare Materials Needed

Next to organizing the right space, you need a bunch of materials necessary to run the effective Event Storming session. Please avoid the situation where you are out of sticky notes or out of modelling surface, cause it has a really big impact on the results of the session.

The materials needed are as follows:

* A lot of sticky notes in various colours, ie: orange, blue, purple, green, pink, yellow;
* Large modelling surface ("butcher’s" paper or a paper roll, e.g. from IKEA), in some cases you can also use a wide wall or wide whiteboard,
* Sharpies or markers (for writing on the sticky notes),
* Painters or artists tape (to attach the paper to the wall) - it is safer for a wall or a masking tape.
* Scissors (for cutting the tape to length)

## What does Event Storming Workshop structure look like?

An Event Storming session starts with a big piece of white paper tacked up on the wall as a modelling surface, a bunch of markers (one for each participant) and a lot of sticky notes in various colours (each color has a traditional use). The white paper should be vertically oriented, with an arrow drawn across the top from left to right that represents the time arrow. Sticky notes are placed chronologically from left (earlier in the past events) to right (later in the past events). The modelling surface should be as big as possible. There may be a lot of events to map.

When the modelling surface is ready and everyone has a marker, it’s time to start the Event Storming session.

### Phase 1: The Orange Sticky Notes

The first phase is all about ‘storming out’ the business process as a series of _Domain Events -which are indicated by **orange sticky notes** (according to the convention).

A *Domain Event* is something meaningful that happened in the domain. It can be easily translated into software, but the real value here is that it could be quickly grasped by the non-technical people. Events are written in the past tense as if everyone is looking back on the completed process narrative. For example, write ‘order submitted’ rather than ‘submit an order’, or write ‘account was created’ rather than ‘create an account’.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/167x143/35ee1c9341/orange-sticky.png)

The group of invited people performs an initial brainstorming session where everyone writes on the sticky notes as many events as possible at the same time. Next, participants start placing sticky notes with the events on the modelling surface in a timeline sequence starting with the earliest events on the left. Putting the sticky notes in a timeline sequence doesn’t have to be precise at the very beginning, since it is easy to sequence them later. So be more focused on the events themselves than their timing.

### Phase 2: The Blue Sticky Notes

Once as many orange event sticky notes possible are in place, it is time to pull out the **blue sticky notes.** They represent *Commands* or inputs that result in the event. As such, they are placed immediately before the corresponding orange sticky note and written in the present tense, e.g. *‘create a user account’*, *‘remove the payment method’*, *‘sell a ticket’* etc. At this step, we should also add an actor sticky notes that execute the command since each command needs ‘a commander’. If the actor is a person who performs the action, e.g. the end-user, administrator - this is usually represented by **a small yellow sticky note** with a small figure on it. The actor could also be a program, like a *Cron* or *Continuous Integration (CI).*

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/340x212/305b851d41/small-yellow.png)

### Phase 3: The Yellow Sticky Notes

In this phase, we are looking for *Aggregates* as a little self-contained cluster  (event with its corresponding command and the responsible actor). Instead of defining aggregates starting from the code, we’re taking an outside-in approach: the *Aggregate* is the portion of the system that receives commands and decides whether to execute them or not, thus producing a *Domain Event*. Aggregates logically group various commands and events, together. The aggregates are written on slightly bigger **yellow sticky notes.**

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/340x289/af202ea4b7/big-yellow.png)

In conclusion, the first step is to find the *Domain Events* and write them on **orange sticky notes**. When all domain events are found the second step is to find the *Command* that caused each of the *Domain Events*. *Commands* are written on **blue sticky notes** and placed directly **before** the corresponding *Domain Event*.

In the third step, the *Aggregates* within which commands are executed and where events happen are identified. The *Aggregates* are written on **yellow sticky notes.**

#### Other Sticky Notes

Outside of the basic creation of domain events, commands and aggregates, the following other sticky notes can be used to add context to the model:

* **Purple sticky notes** represent a *business process* or *business logic* that creates one or more *domain events*, e.g. billing policy.
* **Pink sticky notes** represent *external systems* which might create a command instead of an actor within the domain. It is a third-party service provider such as a [payment gateway](https://selleo.com/blog/how-to-integrate-a-payment-gateway-into-a-website) or shipping company, e.g. external payment system like PayPal.
* **Green sticky notes** represent a *view that* users interact with to carry out a task in the system, e.g. order list or order summary.
* **Red sticky notes** or any other color you have leftover may be used for questions, concerns or issues around an event or an aggregate that will need to be discussed and addressed later.

Summing up, as a result, the business process can be seen as a whole onto the modelling space. But more important is the knowledge that was built in the minds of the participants.

The concepts gathered during an event storming session fall into several categories, each with its own colour of sticky note:

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/800x389/0c338f1021/sticky-notes.png)

Although the many colours of sticky notes may look a bit chaotic at first sight, Event Storming modelling spaces are actually a picture of a business model getting done. The domain knowledge the Event Storming session extracts and the time taken to accomplish is powerful.

## Summary

With the right people invited and a bunch of sticky notes, the different parts of a complex domain come into focus and the whole business process is visualized. It is also a great chance to learn about dependencies in the entire domain that might be less visible on a daily basis, but can significantly affect decisions made about the product, both on the technical and business ends.

If you are looking for an experienced Event Storming facilitator, we can provide you with a Process Facilitator/Scrum Master that will help you implement Agile practices into your projects and facilitate Event Storming sessions from the very beginning of your project and/or on mature software. Feel free to fill out the [contact form](https://selleo.com/contact) to get a quote.

Selleo can also help you with the development process. Our Agile, [fully-fledged teams](https://selleo.com/custom-software-development-company) are ready to build you an extraordinary product.

If you wonder how to run your first successful Event Storming session, this article will give you all the relevant info on how to properly set everything up.

How To Run Your First Event Storming Session

## Introduction

Have you ever thought that your business process might be better, but it was hard for you to indicate which part of it needs to be improved?

Or, have you ever thought that you had quite a good flow in your business but on the other hand you still had that feeling of missing some important details? Details that might turn out to be deciding for the success of your business.

Or more specifically – have you ever had troubles with mapping your business to user stories or it was difficult for you to find a common language with software developers due to the technical wording used?

If you answered yes to any of those questions – I might have a perfect solution for you: Event Storming method, which lets you create a business model that can be used during the development of almost any process. It is also extremely important to get the big picture of the environment, business needs, and goals, as well as to assess its complexity.

## What is Event Storming?

*"Event Storming is a flexible workshop format for collaborative exploration of complex business domains"* — Alberto Brandolini ([Eventstorming.com](https://www.eventstorming.com/))

Event Storming is a workshop-based method invented by Alberto Brandolini in 2012 to quickly discover what is happening in the domain of a software programme. It was originally created as a quick alternative to precise UML diagramming and has its roots in the DDD approach (domain-driven design).

The technique brings all the project stakeholders together, both developers and non-technical users in order to explore complex business domains and learn from each other. Event Storming can be used as a means for **[business process modelling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process_modeling)** and **[requirements engineering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requirements_engineering).**

Compared to other methods Event Storming is highly lightweight and by design requires no use of any software application (unless you do it onsite). The name was chosen to show that the focus should be put on the domain events and the method works similar to **[brainstorming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming)** or **[agile model storming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_modeling).**

In practice, it means Event Storming is an engaging way to bring the domain experts and specialists from different areas together in order to quickly explore complex business domains in hours instead of days or weeks.

<Baner name={scrum-master} />

## Benefits of Event Storming

Going further there are even more benefits to this technique. Event Storming supports discovery and group learning and it is a fun way to integrate teams that can have different perspectives on the same issue. Unlike many other techniques, which are more formal or more complex, Event Storming is **simple to learn** and apply successfully.

### Fast

The Event Storming approach meaningfully reduces the time it takes to create a comprehensive business domain model. Using this technique, you can create a mapping of a business process in hours during a single workshop. So in a day, you can accomplish results which used to take weeks.

### Effective

Event Storming is not a data modelling process. Instead, it results in a fully behavioural model that can be quickly implemented and validated. It develops a shared understanding of the problem being solved and discovers potential solutions in a quick and effective manner.

### Straightforward

Rather than using complex UML diagrams, Event Storming breaks the process down into simple terms that both technical and non-technical stakeholders can understand.

### Engaging

One of the goals of Event Storming is to make modelling fun and engaging. It is a hands-on approach to domain modelling that invites each person to participate and interact.

### Communicative

It is all about conversation - Event Storming is a way of starting a discussion to discover gaps, resolve the misunderstanding and develop new ideas and solutions.

The benefits of Event Storming are numerous. From discovering new business opportunities to designing multiple microservice architectures, the power of domain experts and technical experts collaborating with a rich, shared model of the domain is a game-changer.

![Img](https://a.storyblok.com/f/86602/720x494/25f1a43d7f/eventstorming.png)

## Where and How to Use Event Storming

Event Storming proved to be a very efficient technique for solving some of the most difficult phases of starting up a new project. Since it, in short, is a collaborative workshop format it can help to understand and map complex business domains.

There are many scenarios that can take advantage of Event Storming. Some of the good use cases for it are:

* Analysis of your current domain model to determine bottlenecks or come up with ideas for improvements,
* Analysis of existing value streams,
* Single complex process mapping,
* Mapping of a new domain,
* Remapping of legacy system domains.

Event Storming puts an emphasis on temporal modelling instead of structural modelling. Organizing events on a timeline makes it easy to reflect upon the domain, focus on what is important and collaborate with other people.

Alberto Brandolini and other members of the community have identified 3 main levels of abstraction for Event Storming, they are :

* **Big picture:** allowing you to explore the whole **business line**, looking for diverging interests and perspectives of the stakeholders. As a result, we get a large map of the group’s understanding of the business.
* **Process modelling:** where you model a **single business process**, from the beginning to the end, while ensuring you don't leave any room for ambiguity and clarify all the business rules.
* **Software design:** start **designing your software**, using building blocks from Domain-Driven Design and a reactive programming paradigm

### Great Method For New Projects

Event Storming is an amazing way to solve problems that may arise during the most difficult phases in project development – **core domain discovery** and **documentation.** During the first phase of software development, one of the key success factors is a comprehensive and common understanding of the processes which should be transformed from the idea and vision into working software. Without being on the same page misunderstandings and resulting mistakes made at the very beginning of understanding and mapping domains can run through the entire project introducing long-term issues.

The Big Picture Event Storming can be used both at the beginning of a project or before any work starts. It helps business stakeholders and technical people to gain a common understanding of the business flow. This gives them an opportunity to figure out where the flow needs to be improved and which project should be completed first.

Understanding a workflow does not sound like a major challenge, however during the detailed analysis even of simply structured processes, many questions arise. Answering those questions and shared understanding of the procedures and motivations makes it possible to recognize inconsistencies or blockers and eliminate them before starting the implementation of the process.

### Useful For Mature Projects

Event Storming is also a very useful solution for mature teams and projects to find bottlenecks or possible areas of conflict in the process. It can be also used in order to refactor the legacy systems, but it is important to do it as if you were starting from scratch.

Event storming is not data modelling but instead, it results in a fully behavioural model that can be implemented and quickly validated. Teams can use the knowledge gained in the workshop to model future processes or re-design the existing ones and build software from them.

Learning about different areas and their distinction may increase awareness regarding what to focus on and what questions to ask in the future. The Event Storming session also helps to know whether the respective software development project is a core of our system or if it may just play a supporting role. Although everything is important to the business, not everything is equally important to software development. Event Storming allows teams to constantly learn about the business, and translate the knowledge obtained into working software, which delivers true business value.

## Summary

From a business perspective, Event Storming is really useful thanks to the better understanding of the customer’s business domain it creates for the development team. That directly impacts the general quality of the software product developed for the customer, as well as the overall cooperation between business and technical teams.

At Selleo, we are aware that software development is a journey, but building a self-organizing and constant-learning company is even more demanding. That is why we are really excited to use Event Storming as a well-checked method for gathering data and understanding the business domain.

**If you wish to work with a trusted software development company, that implements Event Storming and Agile methodologies on a daily basis, feel free to fill out the [contact form](https://selleo.com/contact).**

Have you ever thought that your business process might be better, but it was hard for you to indicate which part of it needs to be improved? Or, have you ever thought that you had quite a good flow in your business but on the other hand you still had that feeling of missing some important details? 

Read our articles on Selleo Blog

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How To Run Your First Event Storming Session

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