Speaking Engineering: Disambiguation Frameworks for Business Owners
Beginner — non-technical business owner or domain expert who owns part of a business process and needs to collaborate effectively with engineering teams.
What This Plan Covers
A landscape of engineering disambiguation frameworks — including DDD, event storming, user story mapping, and impact mapping — taught for non-technical business owners who own part of a business process and need to collaborate effectively with engineering teams.
In scope:
- Why business-engineering misalignment is costly and how disambiguation frameworks address it
- Core DDD vocabulary (ubiquitous language, bounded contexts, domains) as a mental model, not an implementation guide
- Event storming as a collaborative discovery workshop
- User story mapping for sequencing and prioritizing business work
- Impact mapping for linking goals to deliverables
- Context mapping to understand system and team boundaries
- A practical guide to choosing the right framework for the right situation
Out of scope: Technical implementation of DDD in code, software architecture patterns, and advanced DDD patterns beyond what's needed to participate in workshops.
What You'll Be Able to Do
After completing this plan, you will be able to:
- Explain to a colleague why disambiguation frameworks matter and what problem they solve
- Use correct DDD vocabulary in conversations with engineers (domain, bounded context, ubiquitous language)
- Participate meaningfully in an event storming session — understanding the sticky note notation and contributing domain knowledge
- Sketch a user story map for your own business area
- Use impact mapping to challenge or clarify a project's goals
- Look at a context map and understand who owns what and where friction points might arise
- Walk into a project kickoff and recommend which framework best fits the situation