Finding the Turning Points: Pivotal Events in Big Picture EventStorming
You've likely experienced the overwhelming and seemingly chaotic whirlwind of sticky notes during EventStorming workshops. The stream of domain events can leave you wondering: "Where do I even begin to make sense of this?" That's where identifying Pivotal Events comes in. These aren't just any events; they represent significant shifts, key decisions, or critical state changes within the business process we're exploring.
Think of Pivotal Events as the backbone of your domain narrative. They are the moments that truly matter, the ones that have a ripple effect across the domain or even its sociotechnical system. Spotting them effectively is crucial for understanding the overall flow, identifying bottlenecks, and ultimately, designing better sociotechnical systems which aim to align teams, software and domains.
Heuristics for the Identification of Pivotal Events
So, how do we find these Pivotal Events amidst all the domain events on the wall? Here are some heuristics that helped me in many past workshops.
Events That Trigger Significant Downstream Activity: The "So What?" test.
Events That Represent Key Business Decisions or Policy Enforcement: Decision points and policy application.
Events That Involve Hand-Overs to External Parties: Boundary crossings and external triggers.
Events That Lead to Lasting State Changes: Significant data updates and process milestones.
Events That Indicate Potential Bottlenecks or Failure Points: Points of contention and exception handling.
Compliance and Regulatory Significance: Events tied to legal or regulatory requirements.
Change in Resource Allocation: Events causing significant shifts in personnel, time, or budget.
Impact on Multiple Stakeholders: Events affecting various departments or stakeholders.
High Business Value Realization Potential: Events that correlate with achieving key business objectives.
1. Look for Events That Trigger Significant Downstream Activity:
The "So What?" Test: When an event is placed on the timeline, ask: "So what happens next because of this?" If the answer involves a cascade of subsequent events, commands, or policy decisions, you've likely found a pivotal one. These events act as triggers, setting off a chain reaction within the business process.
Consider System Reactions: Does this event cause multiple systems to react or update? Does it lead to notifications being sent, data being transformed, or other significant system-level changes? These are strong indicators of a Pivotal Event.
2. Identify Events That Represent Key Business Decisions or Policy Enforcement:
Decision Points: Look for events that signify a deliberate choice or the application of a very important business rule. For example, "Order Approved" or "Loan Application Rejected" represent crucial decision points that significantly alter the future path of the process.
Policy Application: Events that indicate the enforcement of a business policy are often pivotal. Think of "Discount Applied" or "Compliance Check Failed." These events highlight how the organization's rules and regulations impact the flow.
3. Pay Attention to Events That Involve Hand-Overs to other Parties:
Boundary Crossings: Events that mark an interaction with an external entity (customer, supplier, another department, a third-party system) are often pivotal. These "hand-offs" are critical points of communication and potential friction. Examples include "Credit Application Submitted" (hand-over from applicant to bank) or "Payment Received."
External Triggers: Events initiated by external systems or actors can sometimes also be pivotal, as they often kickstart internal processes. "Inventory Level Updated by Supplier" is a good example. But be critical about them: not every nitty-gritty integration with an external system marks a pivotal event.
4. Focus on Events That Lead to Lasting State Changes:
Significant Data Updates: Events that result in persistent and important changes to core business entities are likely pivotal. "Customer Account Created" or "Product Inventory Decreased" are events that fundamentally alter the state of the system.
Milestones in a Process: Consider events that represent significant milestones in a longer business process. For instance, in a software development lifecycle, "Release Deployed to Production" is a pivotal event.
5. Be Mindful of Events That Indicate Potential Bottlenecks or Failure Points:
Points of Contention: Are there events that consistently lead to discussions about delays, errors, or rework? These might be Pivotal Events highlighting areas needing closer scrutiny and potential improvement.
Exception Handling: Events that signify an error condition or a deviation from the happy path ("Payment Failed," "Shipment Delayed") are crucial for understanding the system's resilience and potential pain points.
6. Compliance and Regulatory Significance:
The "Must Do" Events: Events tied to legal or regulatory requirements are almost always pivotal. They represent non-negotiable aspects of the business that can have serious consequences if not handled correctly.
Examples: Think of events like "KYC (Know Your Customer) Verification Completed," "Data Privacy Consent Obtained," or "Regulatory Report Generated." These events often trigger specific processes and audits, demonstrating their pivotal nature.
Connection to Existing Heuristics: These events often trigger significant downstream activity (e.g., further processing after KYC) and can involve external actors (the regulatory bodies).
7. Change in Resource Allocation:
Signaling Shifts in Priorities: Events that necessitate a significant shift in resources (personnel, time, budget) indicate a moment where the organization's priorities or operational focus changes.
Examples: Consider events like "Project Approved," "Budget Reallocated to New Initiative," or "Emergency Response Team Activated." These events trigger concrete actions and have tangible impacts on how the organization operates.
Connection to Existing Heuristics: These events often represent key business decisions and can impact multiple stakeholders across different teams who now need to adjust their work based on the resource shift.
8. Impact on Multiple Stakeholders:
Cross-Cutting Concerns: Events that trigger reactions or downstream actions in multiple departments or affect various stakeholders are strong candidates for being pivotal. They represent points of interconnectedness within the organization.
Examples: Think of "New Product Launched," which impacts sales, marketing, support, and potentially operations. Or "Major Incident Reported," which could involve IT, customer service, and public relations.
Connection to Existing Heuristics: These events clearly trigger significant downstream activity across different parts of the organization and often involve interactions or information sharing between various stakeholders.
9. High Business Value Realization Potential:
Focus: Events that strongly signal a high probability of achieving significant business value, particularly in terms of revenue generation.
The "Value Signal": Does this event strongly indicate an imminent realization of substantial revenue?
Example: "Car Configuration Code Presented at Dealer." In the automotive industry, many manufacturers offer online car configurators. When a potential customer spends time configuring their ideal vehicle and then takes the resulting unique code to a physical dealership, it signifies a very high level of purchase intent. This event is pivotal because it typically leads to focused, high-value interactions with sales staff, test drives, and a significantly increased likelihood of closing a sale or lease agreement (with conversion rates often being notably high around this stage). The resources invested in the online configuration and the customer's physical presence at the dealership make this a crucial point in the sales process with a strong potential for revenue realization.
Facilitation Tips for Uncovering Pivotal Events:
Encourage "Why?" and "What Happens Next?" Questions: As participants place events, gently probe their significance by asking these questions. This helps uncover the downstream effects and underlying decisions. Using the facilitation technique of five whys can be helpful.
Look for Clusters of Activity: Are there certain events that seem to attract a lot of related commands, read models, or external systems? These areas often revolve around pivotal moments.
Don't Be Afraid to Challenge: If an event seems insignificant, politely ask the group to explain its importance. This can help clarify its role or identify if it's truly a Pivotal Event.
Turn the Sticky Notes of Pivotal Events by 45 degrees: Of course you don’t want to waste precious tape for marking tons of pivotal events which you eventually discard. For the first iterations and discussions I often turn the pivotal events by 45 degrees in order to keep discussions going and focussed.
Beyond Identification: The Value of Pivotal Events
Once you've identified the Pivotal Events, you gain a much clearer understanding of the core business flow. This allows you to:
Prioritize Design Efforts: Focus on the areas surrounding these critical events when designing your software. I love the heuristic that “a Pivotal Event probably sits on the boundary of a subdomain”
Identify Key Dependencies: Understand how different parts of the system are connected through these pivotal moments. Again: mind the heuristic “a Pivotal Event probably sits on the boundary of a subdomain”
Facilitate Deeper Discussions: Use Pivotal Events as anchors for more detailed conversations about specific business rules, data requirements, and potential risks.
Create a Meaningful Narrative: The sequence of Pivotal Events forms the high-level story of the business process.
Identifying Pivotal Events in Big Picture EventStorming is a skill that develops with practice. By applying these heuristics and fostering a collaborative environment, you can effectively navigate the complexity and unlock valuable insights into your domain. So, go forth, storm those events, and find those crucial turning points!
Further Resources:
Introducing EventStorming book by Alberto Brandolini
The EventStorming Handbook by Paul Rayner
Collaborative Software Design by Evelyn van Kelle, Gien Verschatse, and Kenny Baas-Schwegler
EventStorming Glossary Cheat Sheet by DDD-Crew on GitHub
Help in EventStorming Facilitation
Do not hesitate to contact me or schedule a call with me if you need help in the setup and facilitation of EventStorming workshops or many other Collaborative Modelling formats across many industries.
