After 2 years consulting DHL eCommerce BeNeLux, I've decided to join them as software architecture enabler.

The reason? I'm simply not done yet. And I wonder if I ever will be.

#DomainDrivenDesign #TeamTopologies #SoftwareArchitecture #CollaborativeModelling #EventDrivenArchitecture
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When I joined 2 years ago, the architecture practice had just been set up the year before. In the time since, a small group of us have been working with teams to introduce intentional architecture — but from an enabling perspective, not an autocratic one.
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We focused on architecture for flow: introducing the architecture advice process, using collaborative modelling like EventStorming, Domain Storytelling, Example Mapping and User Needs Mapping so that teams can own their own decisions as much as possible — all grounded in a Domain-Driven Design discipline.

Is it coherent everywhere yet? No. These things take time, especially in a market that never stops changing. That's exactly why I felt I wasn't done.
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DHL eCommerce BeNeLux has grown from a small group of developers writing customer-facing software to owning the entire BeNeLux operation, setting up an internal platform engineering team and moving everything to the cloud. In the coming year(s) we'll be exploring how to move from enabling to context-as-a-service — what we'd call in @TeamTopologies the Enabling Team and Platform (ETAP) dynamic — so teams rely less on us in making decisions and more on the context we've helped create.
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I'm planning to write more about architecturing for flow using Domain-Driven Design, Event-Driven Architecture, Team Topologies, Wardley Mapping, Collaborative Software Design — and hopefully kick off more conversations around Residuality Theory.

For those wondering: I'll still be giving occasional internal and public training, and continuing to work with other companies.
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The culture made it an easy decision — colleagues who are genuinely collaborative and welcoming, and who care about doing this well. That matters a lot when trying to build something like this.