An Overview of Big Picture EventStorming

Today’s problems often stem from yesterday’s solutions, and problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them (Geus, 2002). That's why you should Design your process as much as your product.

Big Picture EventStorming is such a process. It helps to create a shared mental model of your current Line Of Business (LOB), allowing you to identify risks and opportunities within hours, well before committing to costly software development. It is EventStorming from 30,000 feet.

To ensure a productive workshop, choose a spacious room that offers the illusion of unlimited modeling space. Invite key stakeholders—those who know and those who care—and include at least one facilitator to guide the process and keep things on track.

Corporate workshops generally involve around twenty participants who need space to move freely. Startups may have fewer attendees but still require a similar setup. The room should have a long, straight wall, ample space for movement, and minimal seating. Place a paper roll along the long wall and have a flip chart or similar tool available as a legend. Ensure there are plenty of sticky notes and markers for everyone. Offer healthy food and beverages to keep energy levels up, and provide a timer or visible clock to manage time effectively. Be prepared to accommodate participants who may need to sit. Before starting, double-check that everything is set up for a successful session.

A successful workshop requires the right mix of participants: those with knowledge, curiosity, and a genuine concern for the problem at hand. Diversity in background and attitude among participants is crucial for productive discussions and innovative solutions. This approach fosters meaningful conversations, breaks down silos, and encourages collaboration across disciplines. EventStorming’s flexible and incremental notation supports collaboration among business experts, lean practitioners, service designers, and software developers. While coordinating all necessary participants can be challenging, it is vital for success.

TipsChoose a spacious room with the illusion of unlimited space and minimal seating.Key participants should include stakeholders with knowledge and concern for the problem, with a facilitator to guide the process.

Kick-off

Start with a brief introduction to get a sense of participants’ backgrounds, attitudes, and goals. Keep it concise to prevent boredom while ensuring it sets the right tone. Clearly state the workshop’s purpose, such as mapping a business process on a timeline and identifying ideas, risks, and opportunities. Let participants know the workshop will be dynamic and mostly stand-up; it may feel chaotic or uncomfortable, but that’s normal. Reassure them that there’s no wrong way to participate. Avoid lengthy explanations and kick off the activities as soon as possible—though this may feel abrupt, it’s important to dive in quickly. Maintain a reassuring presence, especially for those who might feel disoriented. Ease them into the method with a time-boxed, collective exercise on a familiar topic. Treat participants as people, not machines, and avoid over-explaining the method. Let the activities speak for themselves, and offer follow-up discussions for those who want more information afterward.

TipsStart with brief introductions and a clear statement of the workshop's purpose.Activities should begin quickly, focusing on dynamic participation and a hands-on approach.

Chaotic Exploration

At the start of the workshop, participants might feel unsure or hesitant. The facilitator’s role is to support rather than lead, encouraging engagement. The first sticky note placed is key to breaking the initial hesitation. If needed, the facilitator can place the first note but should step back immediately afterward. Once the ice is broken, the workshop quickly becomes fast-paced and dynamic, with everyone contributing. Participants write Domain Events in the past tense on orange sticky notes, arranging them along a timeline. They may self-organize into committees or work independently. Facilitators should step in if committees slow the process and reassure participants that it’s okay to guess. The model develops organically, often resulting in a large, messy collection of sticky notes, possibly with some inconsistencies. As participants naturally stop adding notes, they begin reflecting on the model. This is a good time to praise their efforts, answer questions, and take a break before moving forward.

TipsInitial uncertainty among participants is common, but the facilitator should encourage engagement.Participants write Domain Events in the past tense on orange sticky notes, arranging them along a timeline, leading to a messy but collaborative model.

Enforcing the timeline

Expect an imperfect timeline with duplicated notes and locally organized clusters. Participants may create their clusters, leading to a somewhat disordered overall structure. While increased parallel activity can result in a messier outcome, it also accelerates the process and improves information flow compared to traditional meetings where only one person speaks at a time, and others may disengage.

Adequate space for movement and modeling is crucial for effective collaboration and maintaining timeline consistency; without it, focus and productivity can suffer, affecting the success of the workshop.

Ensure the event flow remains consistent from start to finish. Merging different sequences often reveals inconsistencies that may lead to heated discussions. Facilitators should guide this phase to maintain structure. Sorting events on the timeline requires space and a strategic approach because brute force is ineffective. Consider more sophisticated strategies like Pivotal Events, Swimlanes, Temporal Milestones, and Chapter Sorting. If space is limited, creating additional room might be necessary. No single strategy will suffice; a combination of approaches should be used, with structure emerging collectively from the team’s efforts.

Facilitators should identify and mark areas of heated discussion (“Hot Spots”) to capture inconsistencies. Hot Spots are valuable for highlighting narrative issues without overwhelming participants. EventStorming provides a safe environment to address visible problems without triggering personal conflicts.

TipsThe timeline may initially be imperfect and disordered.Sorting events requires space and a strategic approach, using methods like Pivotal Events, Swimlanes, Temporal Milestones, and Chapter Sorting.

People and Systems

Events should consider both people and external systems, recognizing their roles and constraints. Use yellow sticky notes for people and pink ones for external systems in the event flow. Refer to individuals as 'people' rather than specific terms like 'actors' or 'users' to maintain inclusivity and flexibility. Using different notations for people fosters deeper discussions about behaviors and actions. Disruptions in the model during discussions indicate deeper exploration and refinement. External systems, which are beyond one's control, are essential to the model. These systems can include internal departments or external entities, broadly defined as anything potentially responsible. The focus should be on ensuring visibility for meaningful discussions, rather than whether the player is human or a system. Local culture and attitudes may influence how systems are perceived, offering insights into ownership and commitment. Avoid oversimplifying labels for systems or events to preserve important details and enrich the conversation.

TipsConsider people and external systems in the event flow, using different notations to foster deeper discussions.External systems, both internal and external to the organization, are essential for meaningful discussions.

Explicit walk-through

A structured version of the flow emerges though it may still be messy. Walking through the sequence of events while narrating the story helps ensure consistency, with speaking aloud clarifying the flow and highlighting gaps or inconsistencies. The narrator’s role is crucial but energy-intensive, with the audience encouraged to interrupt and challenge the storytelling. The facilitator ensures alignment between the spoken narrative and the model, adding missing elements on the fly. It's helpful to switch narrators at Pivotal Events to leverage different participants' expertise. Some discussions may need to be marked for later follow-up ('Hot Spots'), especially if they can't be resolved during the workshop. Important, long-awaited discussions should be allowed to continue, even if it means deviating from the schedule.

Reverse Narrative, which involves starting from the end and working backward, helps ensure consistency by identifying and filling in missing steps or information. This technique often uncovers overlooked parts of the system. While both Explicit walk-throughs and Reverse Narrative are valuable, they can be time-consuming. If time is limited, you may need to sacrifice depth to maintain progress. Terminal and Pivotal Events are natural starting points for backward exploration. Developers often overlook financial aspects, which are critical for the organization’s survival, so a focused round on money flow is recommended if neglected. This exploration process clarifies business dynamics, leading to a consistent business narrative. It helps identify inconsistencies, outdated steps, or unnecessary complexities. While discovering flaws can be uncomfortable, it should be viewed as an opportunity for improvement.

TipsWalking through the sequence of events helps ensure consistency and highlights gaps or inconsistencies.Reverse Narrative, starting from the end, helps uncover overlooked parts of the system.

Problems and opportunities

After incorporating people and external systems and providing commentary on them, the entire system should now be visible, with a focus on the boundaries between internal and external systems. The specifics of external systems are less critical unless they directly impact the organization. What’s crucial is understanding the boundaries and the neutral zone between systems. Even with everything visible, some elements may remain hidden, necessitating further analysis. This could lead to an additional phase centered on value creation and destruction along the flow. Before deciding on the next steps, everyone has a final opportunity to share their thoughts. A 10-15 minute time-box is allocated for identifying and adding problems and opportunities to the model. Problems are marked in purple, while opportunities are highlighted in green. While problems may seem daunting, the presence of green opportunities helps to balance them. This phase encourages the expression of opinions in a non-confrontational manner, making it well-suited for corporate settings.

TipsAfter incorporating people and systems, focus on boundaries and the neutral zone between systems.A time-boxed phase for identifying problems (purple) and opportunities (green) helps balance the model.

Pick your problem

During a session, numerous problems and opportunities are identified, making it crucial to prioritize, as not everything can be tackled simultaneously. Before wrapping up, final clustering and Arrow Voting may be necessary. Arrow Voting is similar to Dot-voting but offers more expression. Participants cast two votes using blue sticky arrows pointing to identified problems (purple) or opportunities (green). The voting criteria are subjective, with participants selecting the most important problem to address. Voting is done quickly, and the facilitator ensures no dominant voices influence the process, avoiding the Bandwagon Effect. Once problems and opportunities are organized, a clear action plan emerges, visually represented by blue arrows highlighting the most critical issues, guiding future efforts. Voting should only occur when there's the readiness to act on the results. It may not be appropriate in situations where there’s a wrong mix of participants leading to biased perspectives, the scope is too broad or lacks critical constraints, non-disclosure agreements limit exploration, or timing is off, such as in early startup phases where assumptions need challenging rather than immediate problem-solving. The top priority is to find ways to work around the bottleneck. This means no backlog, no estimates, but focusing on conducting experiments instead. Process Modeling EventStorming is the first step.

TipsPrioritization is crucial, using Arrow Voting to identify the most important issues.Voting should occur when there is the readiness to act, avoiding scenarios where biased perspectives or timing issues could skew results.The focus is on conducting experiments rather than creating backlogs or estimates, especially in early startup phases.

References

Brandolini, A. (2021). Introducing EventStorming. Leanpub.

Geus, A. de. (2002). The living company: Growth, learning, and longevity in business. John Murray Press.