In 2022 I spoke about how Domain-Driven Design (DDD) can rescue brownfield systems through rearchitecting. Back then, it felt like an emerging idea. Today, it’s different—books like Architecture Modernization by Nick Tune and Domain-Driven Transformation by Carola Lilienthal and Henning Schwentner show just how far the conversation has come.

But what if DDD and agility alone aren't enough?
What if the business domain is too big—spanning dozens of teams, deeply embedded in a massive corporate structure where complexity is the everyday normal?

For the past three years, I’ve been living that reality. As Lead Architect and Team Lead of Solution Architects for the e-mobility business at EnBW, I’m responsible for 12 solution architects, 9 teams, and a landscape covering greenfield, brownfield, and modernization initiatives—all at once.

We learned that DDD gave us a strong foundation, but to truly succeed, we had to go further.

We combined Domain-Driven Design with Enterprise Architecture Management practices—like building a business capability map, designing strategic architecture roadmaps, and aligning them with concrete implementation roadmaps.
At the same time, we applied Management 3.0 practices—like the Delegation Board—to foster autonomy, ownership, and alignment across dozens of teams and architects.

In this talk, I’ll share our ongoing story—what worked, what didn’t, and how we are building a system that can survive and thrive under real-world, large-scale conditions.
Expect practical insights, unexpected learnings, and ideas you can apply if you’re also hitting the limits of "pure" DDD in a big company.