Welcome to the companion repository for:
The Software Transformation Playbook — From Legacy to Sustainable Ecosystems using the Systemic Event Discovery Approach
This repository extends the book with practical materials for applying the Systemic Event Discovery Approach (SEDA).
While the book introduces the methodology, its foundations, and the case studies through which it is applied, this repository focuses on hands-on application. It provides workshop guidance, collaborative modeling activities, reference outcomes, and supporting artifacts that can be adapted to other software transformation initiatives.
The materials are intended for software architects, engineering leaders, product managers, engineering managers, consultants, transformation facilitators, and others involved in the evolution of sociotechnical software systems.
The repository contains workshop companions for the two case studies presented in Chapters 9 and 10.
chapter-09-breaking-silos/
chapter-10-modernizing-without-mayhem/
Each collection contains a sequence of workshops that follows the four steps of SEDA, together with the supporting materials required to facilitate them.
The repository structure will continue to evolve as additional workshop assets and supporting materials are published.
Depending on the workshop, the repository may include:
- Workshop guides
- Facilitation instructions
- Miro board templates
- EventStorming exercises
- Domain discovery activities
- Team Topologies exercises
- Feedback loop diagrams
- Signal identification worksheets
- Fitness Function templates
- Sample workshop outcomes
- Supporting documentation
These materials are designed to be adapted to your own organization rather than reproduced exactly as presented.
For each case study:
- Read the corresponding chapter in the book.
- Review the chapter workshop README and objectives.
- Begin with Step 1 and work through the four SEDA steps.
- Use the repository artifacts and Miro activities provided for each step.
- Treat the case-study outcomes as references for comparison and discussion rather than predefined answers.
- Challenge assumptions and keep unresolved questions visible.
- Adapt the approach and artifacts to the needs of your own sociotechnical ecosystem.
Although the repository presents the steps sequentially for learning purposes, transformation itself is not assumed to be linear.
Evidence discovered during later steps may require revisiting earlier assumptions, boundaries, or decisions. When the ecosystem begins to drift, those observations can become new input for another SEDA cycle.
SEDA is accompanied by a video series introducing the approach, its systems thinking foundations, and the four steps of the transformation process. The videos provide additional explanations and can be used before working through the workshop materials or as supporting material while applying individual SEDA steps.
YouTube Playlist: The Software Transformation Playbook
Additional articles, explanations, and resources related to SEDA, software architecture, sociotechnical systems, and software transformation are available on the author's website.
Website: Systemic Event Discovery Approach - SEDA
The website complements the book, repository, and video series with additional material around the ideas and practices used throughout SEDA.
Suggestions, corrections, and improvements are welcome.
If you discover an issue, have an idea for improving the workshop materials, or would like to contribute an additional example, please open an Issue or submit a Pull Request.
Unless stated otherwise, the materials in this repository are provided as companion resources for: The Software Transformation Playbook — From Legacy to Sustainable Ecosystems using the Systemic Event Discovery Approach
Please refer to the repository license for the complete terms of use.
The Systemic Event Discovery Approach (SEDA) is an approach for understanding, redesigning, and continuously evolving sociotechnical software systems.
Rather than treating software transformation as a purely technical modernization effort, SEDA connects systems thinking, collaborative modeling, Domain-Driven Design, Team Topologies, and continuous feedback.
Its purpose is to help organizations understand the structures behind visible problems, redesign business and ownership boundaries where necessary, observe the behavior that emerges after intervention, and continue adapting as the ecosystem evolves.
Transformation is therefore not treated as a journey toward a fixed end state. Evidence generated as the system evolves can become the starting point for another cycle of discovery and adaptation.