Domain concept

As explained in Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure

A domain concept is a meaningful concept representing business knowledge within a domain or subdomain.

A domain concept represents meaningful business knowledge within a domain or subdomain. Relationships between concepts reveal which parts of the business should change together, helping shape cohesive domains, aligned teams, and lower-coupling software. section 9.0

Domain concepts are socio-technical: their boundaries affect code, team ownership, domain learning, business collaboration, and the speed of delivering change. There is no permanently perfect grouping because organizations, strategies, and expected changes evolve. section 9.0 section 9.2.2

Travel-company loyalty levels

A loyalty-level feature changes loyalty account, loyalty points, and rewards. Modeling these as one cohesive domain concept group lets one team change one codebase, instead of coordinating across three subdomains, codebases, and teams. section 9.1

Analyze candidate groupings by asking:

• Which concepts, business rules, and features are likely to change together? section 9.0
• Would one team reasonably own the related events and concepts? section 9.4.5
• Do particular domain experts or stakeholders care about only part of the grouping? section 9.4.5
• Mark uncertainty explicitly when concepts feel out of place, then refine the boundary through deeper domain immersion. section 9.2.2 section 9.4.5

Figure 9.21 The subdomain overview canvas

Use a subdomain overview canvas to visualize the key details of a candidate grouping while assessing its cohesion. section 9.4.5

How Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure covers it

How deep it goes

Defines concepts and grouping heuristics, then stops short of prescribing a universally optimal boundary.

Examples

Uses loyalty accounts, loyalty points, rewards, abstract shapes, and car-delivery events to illustrate grouping and boundary choices.

What it assumes

Assumes business-domain immersion and develops boundary analysis from basic relationships among business concepts.

What you can do after

Evaluate candidate groupings by tracing change-together relationships, team ownership, stakeholder interests, and uncertain boundaries.

How it connects

Connects domain concepts to business domains, subdomains, domain boundaries, cohesion, coupling, teams, and value streams.

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Also explained in

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  BDD in Action, Second EditionA business domain is the area of organizational activity, knowledge, and processes that a software solution addresses.

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Related concepts

• api namingused by · API naming is the practice of assigning identifiers that communicate an API element's purpose and distinguish it from others.
• resourceincludes · An API resource is a conceptual entity or target exposed through an interface and addressable for access or manipulation.
• subdomainpart of · A subdomain is a bounded subdivision or subordinate namespace within a broader domain, such as a business area or a domain-name hierarchy.
• domainpart of · A domain is a subject area or problem context with relevant concepts, rules, activities, and terminology that software represents or supports.
• automation solutionused by · An automation solution is a supporting system that integrates automated tests, execution frameworks, libraries, environments, and glue code to verify another system’s behavior.

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Architecture Modernization: Socio-technical alignment of software, strategy, and structure. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.