2.0 Blueprinting (phase 2)

Introduction

Blueprinting is the second phase of the playbook. It focuses on solidifying your product strategy, developing your roadmap, and creating blueprints for your product. Blueprints include designs that are fit for purpose: Event maps, tactical designs, architectural drawings and the like. Your roadmap will align product and business priorities, so you know what to deliver first.

Blueprinting activities occupy the center region of the subway map.

There are nine activities included in Blueprinting. These are:

1. Product strategy
2. Roadmaps and OKRs
3. Strategic event storming
4. Domain modeling
5. Context mapping
6. Functional architecture
7. Target state architecture
8. Architecture foundation
9. Delivery processes and tools

Note that 2.8, Delivery processes and tools, has some overlap with Operations. Accordingly it shares space with that phase in the subway map. Each activity will be covered in chapters 2.1 through 2.9.

Overall goals

The objective during Blueprinting is to create just enough technical design to begin implementation. We don’t want to spend too much time here — but we do want to create really solid, accurate designs for a suitable product increment.

This means you will revisit Blueprinting in the future. For now, we’ll focus on an achievable, ideally small product increment. We’ll dive deep into the design of that increment, until we have just enough accurate, detailed design so that we can move into the Delivery phase and start building it.

If this feels at all uncomfortable, I’d recommend reading this article on using a steel thread to speed up delivery. That article discusses what “just enough” is, and when to stop design and start delivery.

Phase 2 quality gate

Blueprinting needs inputs from the Mobilization phase. Having clear preconditions establishes a checkpoint in our delivery control process. Use this definition of ready to check that we’re ready to proceed:

If you don’t meet the preconditions called out in your first Blueprinting activity, just go back to Mobilization and complete those preconditions.

Activity sequence

As shown in the subway map, you may find it suitable to conduct some activities in parallel or in a non-linear sequence.

If you’re just getting started with Blueprinting, you’ll want to begin with one of these activities:

• 2.1 Product strategy
• 2.3 Strategic event storming