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THE JOURNEY IS WORTH IT

YOUR FIRST 10 STEPS

Confidently Learn Domain-Driven Design

Many have gone down quite unique paths to become DDD Practitioners. However, there are some commonalities that are worth sharing to help you ramp up much faster. The path below is a synthesis of those commonalities. These steps should enable you to learn DDD at a robust pace if you take each step one at a time, absorb the content, and connect dots from one step to the next. You will read articles, watch videos, read books and more on your journey. Once you feel you get what DDD is about, including the Ubiquitous Language, Bounded Contexts and their relationships, Aggregates and their members such as Entities & Value objects, you should be ready to start practicing the modeling process. The value of design becomes even more apparent as you begin to make models that drive the software from the perspective of the Domain.
Once you feel you are ready to start Eventstorming, designing Domain Models, and commit these principles to muscle memory with other like-minded logical designers, you will benefit from DDD centric workshops listed on our learning page. There are also options for the company you work for to bring DDD into the mainstream of their software development processes.
Enjoy this starter journey. Many of us have gained this skill to one degree or another enough to make adaptive systems a normal way of life, and so can you.
Duration:
  • Steps 1-9: ~10 hours (free*)
  • Step 10: ~ Chosen workshop determines duration

* Free if you have the recommended book or a paid/trial subscription.
Step 1. Read An Article (4 min. - free)

Excerpt: “The book introduced the notion of classifying objects into Entities, Value Objects, and Service Objects – what I call the Evans Classification and identifying the concept of Aggregates. I found these filled an important gap in thinking about objects which eluded both programming languages and diagrammatic notations. A particularly important part of DDD is the notion of Strategic Design – how to organize large domains into a network of Bounded Contexts. Until that point, I’d not seen anyone tackle this issue in any compelling way.”

Go to Full Article
Step 2. Take a short lesson (~25 min. - free)

Scan the QRCode or click/tap the button. Register and take the first course we are offering for free on how to think about DDD when implementing it in the real world. This is a great way to begin to shape your think about the essence of DDD in the workplace.

Go to Lesson
Step 3. Read Khononov - Chapters 1-2 (~2 hrs.)

Learning Domain Driven Design - Domains

There are many books on DDD. The first ever was "Domain-Driven Design" by Eric Evans. We call this the "Blue Book". All DDD books, listed on the learning page, belong in your reading list. However, today, if some of us were to start this journey again, we would start with Vladik Khononov's book "Learning Domain-Driven Design". We would not stop there, but Khononov has packaged a balanced starter diet of learning DDD principles and practicalities. While you learn some key design thinking, you also gain some effective wisdom. So that is the step we recommend you consider here. This is the first step in this list that might require you to spend some money (if you don't have the book or a subscription to O'Reilly already - free trial available). The link to the book is below (free trial to O'Reilly below that). If you purchase the book through the Amazon link, a super tiny portion of your payment is sent back to DDDUS to help grow this community. If you use the O'Reilly link, we offer a longer free trial as an affiliate than you would normally get.


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Step 4. Connect With or Create a Local Group.

Local Groups are more fun when you understand what they are about, at least at a basic level. That is why we saved this step for this point. Also, reading material, watching videos and participating in workshops are important. However, you will want to stay connected and work out your DDD thoughts in community with others, whether they are starting their journey or have been on it for 15 years or more. The goal of DDDUS is to have no less than 50 groups in the US. Also, join our national DDD Virtual Community Group as a way to start that connection today.

Go to Local Groups
Step 5. Watch A Short Video (5 min. - free)

DDD Bounded Contexts & Subdomains

About 5 minutes in length, you cannot get a faster way to really explain what a Bounded Context is this well. Know this, there will be some who have slightly different definitions, but this video gets you the essence of DDD Bounded Contexts enough for you to start forming your design thinking around carving up solutions based on the language of the Domain.

YouTube video
Step 6. Read Khononov - Chapters 3-4 (~2 hrs.)

Local Groups are more fun when you understand what they are about, at least at a basic level. That is why we saved this step for this point. Also, reading material, watching videos and participating in workshops are important. However, you will want to stay connected and work out your DDD thoughts in community with others, whether they are starting their journey or have been on it for 15 years or more. The goal of DDDUS is to have no less than 50 groups in the US. Also, join our national DDD Virtual Community Group as a way to start that connection today.

Go to Local Groups
Step 7. Watch Another Short Video (5 min. - free)

DDD Building Blocks by Drawing Boxes

If you are here and you have done the work in the preceding steps, you might be excited to know how to really model using tactical building blocks. This video does a great job explaining how these blocks form domain models that align well to the world that this software serves.

YouTube video
Step 8. Read Khononov - Chapters 5-6 (~2 hrs.)

Aggregates are a nebulous concept until you begin to see how they are used to assemble functionality. Aggregates provide a great protective layer for that functionality as well. The video plus these two chapters help you conceptualize how you would go about assembling these basic building blocks.

Go to Local Groups
Step 9. Read Another Article (~1.5 hrs. - free)

Excerpt: “Data modeling as a primary technique leaves something to be desired, however. When you want to understand the behaviors inherent in the same domain, data-only techniques such as entity-relationship diagrams (ERDs) or entity-relationship models and class diagrams break down. You need to see the application’s parts in motion and how types collaborate to get work done.”

Go to Full Article
Step 10. Attend Workshops

Once you have these basics in place, you will have a ton of desire to solve questions and try your hand at making quality adaptive designs. If you feel confident that you are ready to take the next step, take a look at the workshop opportunities. Some are designed for personal growth and others are designed for enterprise implementations. You need to work through the best way for you, and or your team to move forward. Head over to the Workshops page and consider which of these are the best path forward. Also, continue reading and watching on the learning page.

Go to Workshops
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If you worked through all 10, Congratulations. You have an amazing start to your DDD Career! Keep on rolling and connect with us for more ideas on how to go further.

DID YOU COMPLETE ALL 10?