A timeline is a chronological visual arrangement of domain events. In EventStorming, it represents collective knowledge about a business process and supports collaboration, learning, and conversations rather than precise notation or a permanent artifact. section 7.1.3
Build and use the timeline progressively:
- Introduce domain events as things that happen in the business or user’s world, phrased in the past tense. section 7.2.4
- Begin with imperfect brainstorming: place events wherever they seem to fit, use seed events when helpful, and tidy the sequence later. section 7.2.4
- Walk the sorted timeline as an end-to-end story, marking difficult discussions or disagreements as hot spots instead of stopping for every issue. section 7.2.6
- Add roles, systems, terminology, and domain boundaries as the group’s understanding develops. section 7.2.6
- Group event sequences that seem to belong together to identify domains and subdomains; compare alternatives through smaller breakout groups when useful. section 9.4.2
A seeded timeline
A facilitator starts with events such as Order Placed, Menu Published, Incident Reported, and Device Activated. Participants then fill the whitespace with further events, later walking the sequence and marking unresolved areas as hot spots. section 7.2.4 section 7.2.6
Use the seeded timeline to see how initial events and whitespace invite broad exploration before detailed refinement. section 7.2.4
