T43: Domain-Driven Design: Strategic Design and Modeling in Large Projects

Wednesday, Oct 25, from 13:30 to 17:00

Some design decisions have an impact on the trajectory of the whole project.

Modeling is most needed in complex circumstances, yet the typical dynamics of large projects often derail modeling or disconnect it from the real design. A related issue: modeling is best carried out by small, dynamic teams with a lot of autonomy, yet creating large systems requires coordination and project-spanning decisions. Managers and developers alike need to pay close attention to this intersection of design, project organization, and politics. This tutorial introduces them to a suite of techniques for that purpose.

First, distilling a shared vision of the system's core and the roles of its parts can focus development effort on real business assets, and tell when "good enough is good enough" versus when to push for excellence.

Then, "context mapping" addresses a vital fact of life: different groups model differently. Ignoring these realities leads to dumbed-down models and costly, buggy integrations, and disruption of project plans where they depend on other teams.

Finally, who makes such decisions and how? Architecture teams disconnected from daily development make decisions with unintended consequences. Without prescribing a particular organization, we will consider guidelines for strategic decision making.

Advanced:  Some experience with development of complex or large-scale software applications.

Goals: To make attendees aware of factors that prevent effective use of sophisicated models and introduce techniques that can help  manage them.

Format: Combines lecture, simulation exercises, and discussion.