Chaotic exploration is a workshop mode in which everyone adds domain events in parallel before imposing structure. The apparent mess surfaces participants’ knowledge and reduces bias from predefined organizational or domain boundaries. section 7.1.2
A typical EventStorming flow uses chaotic exploration as an intentionally temporary phase:
- Give each participant orange sticky notes and ask them to add every domain event they can think of to the timeline. section 7.5
- Allow parallel contributions for roughly 30 to 60 minutes instead of filtering ideas through a step-by-step process. section 7.1.2 section 7.5
- Sort the resulting timeline afterward with pivotal events or temporal milestones, then walk through the story and add problems and opportunities. section 7.5
- Use a single-threaded mode when remote participation makes parallel conversations difficult, or when facilitation needs tighter direction. section 7.1.2
A messy workshop timeline
A mixed group covers a wall with orange notes describing concrete domain events. Participants initially resist the disorder, but later sorting reveals boundaries that were not obvious from existing organizational structures. section 7.1.2 section 7.5
