iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Next week we'll be pitching up at Digital Architecture Design Days in the Netherlands. Gien Verschatse will be running a workshop on EventStorming while we'll also have a booth to talk to us about what we do at Aardling. Come say hi if you're attending!

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Final call! At 12.30 CEST, Thomas Coopman will be joined by Gien Verschatse to talk about the art of connecting bounded contexts, diving into the design choices you'll need to make. Still time to sign up - buff.ly/nXCWwp3

aardling.eu

Bounded Context Maps: Upstream vs Downstream and the Im

Join Thomas Coopman to explore how to build bounded context maps

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Join Thomas Coopman on Wednesday to uncover some practical tips for connecting Bounded Contexts. He'll run through some practical scenarios w/ code examples to explore a few useful patterns that can help you. 1/2

aardling.eu

Bounded Context Maps: Upstream vs Downstream and the Im

Join Thomas Coopman to explore how to build bounded context maps

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Not many talks over the 10 years of Domain-Driven Design Europe have had a standing ovation. But this one did. Watch Felienne Hermans' keynote from this year's conference. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-6-...

youtube.com

AI made me doubt everything about programming by Felienne Hermans - DDD Europe 2026

Domain-Driven Design Europe 2026 - Organised by Aardling (https://aardling.eu/) https://dddeurope.com https://newsletter.dddeurope.com/…

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

If you're suffering when connecting bounded contexts, read on. When it comes to making this design decision, the line between a clean integration and a tangled mess is thin. There are plenty of pitfalls that we see even the most experienced Domain-Driven Design practitioners make. 1/2

aardling.eu

Bounded Context Maps: Upstream vs Downstream and the Im

Join Thomas Coopman to explore how to build bounded context maps

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

For teams building software, there's often a disconnect between an idealised version of the future and the weighty reality of legacy systems. At KanDDDinky in Berlin, our consultant Gien Verschatse will be onstage with Kenny (Baas) Schwegler to explore this in detail. buff.ly/bcHxWTj

kandddinsky.de

KanDDDinsky - The art of business software

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Domain-Driven Design was coined over 20 years ago. So what's its relevance in 2026? Gien Verschatse argues that the value of DDD has actually increased with the proliferation of AI technology. If the amount of production code increases, the importance of good design increases too. buff.ly/SpXZ5YF

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

One of the most important architectural decisions in Domain-Driven Design is how bounded contexts should integrate. When one bounded context depends on another, the downstream team has a choice. 1/2

aardling.eu

Bounded Context Maps: Upstream vs Downstream and the Im

Join Thomas Coopman to explore how to build bounded context maps

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Why is it still important that the domain sits at the heart of your system with AI? LLMs don't magically understand your system. They work with the context you give them. If your business rules are scattered throughout the codebase, AI has to piece them together. 1/2

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Design remains the job of the engineer. As AI provides more value to engineers in implementing the solution, the importance of design becomes ever more important. This clip is from a recent presentation by Gien Verschatse titled "Navigating AI-Assisted Domain-Driven Design." buff.ly/SpXZ5YF

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"As we improve the quality of generated code, the number of production issues should go down in relative terms. However, the amount of production code will increase exponentially, and the issues will go up in absolute terms." Mathias Verraes on our blog buff.ly/uE7eSb1

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

One of the most common justifications for hexagonal architecture is that it makes it easier to swap databases or frameworks. But the real value of putting your domain at the centre of your software is that it lets you express the business problem without accidental complexity. 1/3

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Mathias Verraes @mathiasverraes.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Martin Fowler wrote: "[Mathias Verraes] adds another concern: we need good design as a hedge against the risk of dependence on AI. After all, we don’t know how high the costs may rise to. (ctd)

verraes.net

Software Design in the Agentic Age: Place Your Bets

An evaluation of the role of software design in retrospect of Thoughtworks' Future of Software Engineering retreat.

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Mathias Verraes @mathiasverraes.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

I was invited to @thoughtworks.com' Future of Software Engineering summit in Switzerland with around 60 industry leaders. It was an open space hosted by @martinfowler.com. My retro looks at the state of Agentic Development and the role of software design & DDD. aardling.eu/en/insights/...

aardling.eu

Software Design in the Agentic Age: Placing Your Bets

Report from Thoughtworks’ Future of Software Engineering retreat

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Mathias Verraes @mathiasverraes.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

BRU🛫ZRH for Thoughtworks' Future of Technology summit. It's conference with 50 invitees, so I think it will get pretty intense 😀

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Frederieke Scheper 🇳🇱❤️🇺🇦 @fbascheper.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Celebrating ten (10!) years of @dddeu.bsky.social with software modelling and development heroes @ericevans0.bsky.social and @martinfowler.com on the panel 😍 #DDDEU #safe #awesome #conference #learning #sharing 🎆 🎉 thank you @aardlingeu.bsky.social , speakers and sponsors for making this happen ❤️🎂

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Today, we’re delighted to announce that Thomas Coopman is the new CEO of Aardling! Mathias Verraes, Aardling’s founder and former CEO, moves to become board director and advisor. 1/2

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Join us for our online event at 12:30 CEST as Gien Verschatse talks through how to navigate AI-assisted Domain-Driven Design. Final spots available here:

buff.ly

Navigating AI-Assisted Domain-Driven Design: Opportunit

Learn about AI-assisted Domain-Driven Design with Gien Verschatse

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

When designing your bounded contexts, there are two standout patterns you can use to integrate them into external systems: The Anti-Corruption Layer and the Conformist pattern. Gien Verschatse has written up the benefits and drawbacks of both approaches.

buff.ly

Anti-Corruption Layer vs. Conform

In DDD, the Anti-Corruption Layer and Conformist patterns offer distinct ways to handle integration between bounded contexts. One isolates, the other adapts.

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Gien Verschatse @gienverschatse.com · 22/04/2026

“How do we design our software system so that our teams can be autonomous?” is a very common question I receive during training or consulting. In this episode of Satisfying Software, I dig a bit deeper into team organisation with @joaorosa.bsky.social. [1/2]

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Domain-Driven Design has long held that deep domain knowledge is the foundation of high-quality, maintainable software. So when AI can dramatically reduce the time to build a solution, we short-circuit the learning process that makes DDD valuable in the first place. 1/2

aardling.eu

Navigating AI-Assisted Domain-Driven Design: Opportunit

Learn about AI-assisted Domain-Driven Design with Gien Verschatse

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

In the latest episode of Satisfying Software, Kenny Baas Schwegler and Gien Verschatse get into the nuts and bolts of Domain-Driven Design and the differences between domains, subdomains, and bounded contexts. They both share some tips you can try out, including this one from Kenny.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Our podcast series Satisfying Software is back! In episode 1, Gien Verschatse has a conversation with Susanne Kaiser about Software Architecture, strategic thinking and the power of Wardley Mapping. Check out the full video - buff.ly/aFy7NWn

aardling.eu

Strategic Thinking and Wardley Mapping with Susanne Kai

In this conversation, Gien Verschatse and Susanne Kaiser explore why so many teams build technically impressive systems that still don't deliver real business value.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

We've just published a case study about our recent work with a deep tech scale-up Orbem. Using AI to industrialise MRI, Orbem enables non-invasive insight into everything from fruits to eggs to the human body. The new case study details our work together. Take a look! buff.ly/GtB7zne

aardling.eu

How Orbem Aligned Its Software Architecture to Business

How a fast-growing deep tech scale-up turned engineering complexity into strategic advantage

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Introduce new thinking in your organisation with a talk from one of our consultants. Whether it's for an internal conference or a standalone event, we can create momentum for change in your organisation. Get in touch to learn more aardling.eu/en/services/...

aardling.eu

Speaking and Keynotes

Invite one of our specialists to your next event. Whether at an internal conference or a one-off event, we deliver talks to stakeholders in your organisation on our exper

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Portbase’s goal is to enable goods and data to flow efficiently through Dutch ports. With our help, Portbase gained a strategic tool for managing the complexity of critical port infrastructure. Take a look at our case study aardling.eu/en/insights/...

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

If the model you create is hidden away in the engineering organisation, you will lose a lot of its value. The business needs to not only understand the model but also share the ownership. aardling.eu/en/insights/...

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

When we model, finding the right words helps us reason at a higher level. In a recent presentation, our senior consultant Stijn Vannieuwenhuyse shared some tips for designing domain models with the business in mind. Read more on our blog - aardling.eu/en/insights/...

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

“OK, we’ve done some EventStorming. Now what? How do we translate it into code?” Just because something appears in the EventStorm, it doesn’t mean it needs to be implemented as code. A Command in the model might end up being a function call on an object.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 01/12/2025

💡 "We listen to what the business wants and translate that into quality software" If you describe DDD to someone outside of software development, they might assume all software is designed this way, but in reality, it's not!

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Your domain model isn’t helping your business (yet!) To ensure your model brings value to the business, all key business stakeholders need to understand the model. If it's only the engineers, your team miss out on lots of value. 1/2

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

When should you reconsider the design of your current domain model? Noticing when your domain model is no longer fit for purpose is a crucial skill for programmers. It's important that as a team, you have a culture that questions whether the model is a stable reflection of the software.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

You can’t perfectly design your software system from the beginning. Your system design will evolve as you iterate based on customer feedback and new information. Once you have this iterative cycle, refactoring and adding new product capacities becomes easier Search for Satisfying Software on YT

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Andrew Harmel-Law @andrewhl.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

“The hardest part (of deciding) is framing the problem. It is also the part we spend the least amount of time on.” This is _so_ true. 👏🏻 @gienverschatse.com closing #NewCrafts #Paris 2025.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 07/11/2025

@newcrafts.bsky.social Day 2 in Paris 🇫🇷 is underway. @tcoopman.bsky.social ran a workshop reviewing the advantages of using LLMs to design complex software systems. And @gienverschatse.com closed the day with her keynote on how to make better decisions in complex software projects.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

🚫 Your bounded contexts shouldn't match 1-1 with your business domains. Mathias Verraes, Aardling's principal consultant, recently wrote about this on his blog. verraes.net/2025/08/doma...

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Mathias Verraes @mathiasverraes.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

The quote "All models are wrong but some are useful" should not be read as an excuse to stick with your model. It's a call to actively search for more useful models.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Jordy Dehaes, CTO: "Protime was in a challenging moment when Aardling came along and Thomas struck the right balance between getting input and moving forward." "It definitely helped to have that outside voice with different experiences," says Erik Sacré. 📖 Read the full case study: bit.ly/3IdwYMC

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

From chaos to clarity: Designing the new team structure: Aardling didn't just identify Protime's ownership problem, they architected the solution. The transformation design: FROM:Feature teams rotating every 4-6 months TO:Domain-aligned teams with clear ownership 📖 Read further bit.ly/3IdwYMC

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

The power of asking the right questions at the right time 💡 Aardling's breakthrough with Protime came through carefully designed workshops with a cross-section of the software organisation. 📖 Read the full case study: bit.ly/3IdwYMC

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Erik Sacré, Protime's Technology Architect, highlights what made Aardling's guidance valuable: "Thomas could point to examples where this had worked or where this didn't work. I could only bring it from a theoretical point of view 📖 Read the full case study: bit.ly/3IdwYMC

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

How do you diagnose complex organisational problems? When Protime contacted Aardling in 2023, they had 12 teams, solid technical infrastructure, but delivery was unpredictable. The breakthrough insight: "Everyone owns everything" had become "No one owns anything." 📖 bit.ly/3IdwYMC

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Calling all data leaders and practitioners! 📣 Data Mesh Live 2026 is your essential meeting point for advice, guidance, and community in managing data in complex environments. Join us June 11-12, 2026, for practical, actionable insights on building modern data systems at scale: 2026.datameshlive.com

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

The CFP for Domain-Driven Design Europe 2026 and for Data Mesh Live 2026 is open: Our consultants wrote some tips to help write the best CFP: aardling.eu/en/insights/...

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Aardling is bringing two leading conferences back to Antwerp in 2026! - DDD Europe (June 10-12) - Data Mesh Live (June 11-12) Tickets are now open for both conferences: ti.to/on3/aardling26.

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Nothing beats face-to-face learning and networking. Join us in beautiful Paris for an immersive workshop experience where you can connect with fellow practitioners and dive deep into complex scenarios together. 🇫🇷 Location: Paris, France 🤝 Format: Interactive in-person workshop 👉 ti.to/aafr/nc25

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Aardling @aardlingeu.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Join our expert Aardling consultant Gien Verschatse for an in-depth exploration of strategic DDD concepts. This training focuses on the high-level design patterns and strategic thinking that make DDD so powerful for complex business domains. Discover Strategic DDD: ddd.academy/strategic-dd...

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Mathias Verraes @mathiasverraes.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

From an engineering perspective, software wants to be decoupled. From a business value perspective, software wants to be deeply interconnected. That's the fundamental friction that software design, and Domain-Driven Design specifically, attempts to address.

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