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Practices Map

This page is a practical bridge between CDS and the wider world of industry practices and tools. It answers a simple question:

“If I already use X (or my org expects X), where does it fit inside CDS?”

The intent is not to rank practices. It’s to show how CDS can host them, compose them, and diagnose gaps when they are used without the upstream clarity CDS provides.

How to use this map

Use it in three modes:

  • Orientation: understand where a practice contributes (Meaning, Intent, or Commitment).
  • Composition: combine practices without turning CDS into a methodology soup.
  • Diagnosis: when things go wrong, identify which CDS function is missing.

CDS lifecycle placement map

Meaning Discovery practices

These help discover and align meaning (needs, conditions, frictions, stakes, evidence).

  • JTBD interviews / story gathering → needs and progress framing
  • Problem framing workshops (Lean-style) → shared reality alignment
  • Stakeholder mapping → stakes, blockers, operators
  • Service blueprinting / journey mapping → friction visibility
  • Wardley mapping (early) → situational context, constraints, option awareness
  • Incident review / postmortems → operational meaning, failure modes
  • Support ticket analysis → evidence of pain and friction

Common misuse: jumping from these directly to backlog items without intent refinement.

Intent Refinement practices

These help turn meaning into decision-grade intent (outcomes, signals, boundaries, constraints, tradeoffs, assumptions, decision rights).

  • OKRs / outcome framing → outcome and success signals
  • User story mapping → scope boundaries and sequencing hypotheses
  • Hypothesis and experiment design → learning plan tied to decisions
  • DDD (strategic) → domain language and boundaries (prevents semantic drift)
  • Architecture optioning (lightweight) → constraints, reversibility awareness
  • Risk framing (top risks + early signals) → intent inspectability
  • RACI-style decision clarification → decision rights for tradeoffs and change

Common misuse: treating intent as “requirements” without signals, tradeoffs, or decision rights.

Commitment Formalization practices

These help freeze intent into an accountable commitment (governance, change protocol, acceptance evidence, obligations).

  • SoW / contract structures → formal obligation scaffolding
  • RFP response packaging → commitment expression in procurement language
  • Working agreements / team charters → engagement contract
  • Governance cadence design (forums, decision logs) → decision system
  • Definition of Done / acceptance criteria → acceptance clarity (must include evidence)
  • Change control practices → routable change without escalation
  • Risk registers (lightweight) → explicit risk posture and escalation paths

Common misuse: formalizing deliverables while leaving acceptance evidence and change protocol vague.

CDS functions map (what CDS “hosts”)

Instead of mapping by stage, you can map by function. This tends to be more practical when designing your own playbooks.

Discover meaning

Common tools/practices:

  • interviews, observation, ticket mining, incident reviews, journey mapping

Align meaning

Common tools/practices:

  • facilitation, stakeholder mapping, shared vocabulary work, conflict surfacing

Shape decision-grade intent

Common tools/practices:

  • outcome framing, OKRs, user story mapping, DDD boundaries, assumption mapping

Reduce uncertainty (feasibility)

Common tools/practices:

  • spikes, prototypes, data profiling, architecture validation, security pre-checks

Formalize obligations

Common tools/practices:

  • SoW/RFP structures, responsibility mapping, dependency obligations

Govern change

Common tools/practices:

  • decision forums, decision logs, change protocol, escalation design

Validate value

Common tools/practices:

  • metrics, analytics, acceptance evidence cadence, feedback loops

Software Delivery Profile: where practices attach

This is a practical view of which practices usually matter most in software delivery commitments.

Meaning Discovery (SD)

  • incident / ops signal review (SRE-adjacent)
  • dependency mapping (access, environments, internal teams)
  • domain vocabulary capture (DDD precursor)

Intent Refinement (SD)

  • NFR/quality attribute framing
  • reversibility classification
  • feasibility probes (spikes/prototypes)
  • instrumentation planning (evidence capture)

Commitment Formalization (SD)

  • governance cadence + decision forum
  • change protocol (normal vs urgent)
  • operational posture (support model, cutover stance)
  • dependency obligations (definition of ready + lead times)

Pattern: practice without CDS function (gap diagnosis)

When a practice is present but a CDS function is missing, the system fails predictably.

  • Agile without decision-grade intent → sprinting in circles
  • DDD without meaning alignment → elegant models solving the wrong need
  • OKRs without commitment formalization → goals with no accountability
  • RFP/SoW without evidence expectations → deliverables-as-value
  • Workshops without decision rights → alignment theater

Use the CDS Core Quality Checks page to locate which stage should be re-entered.

A note on tools

Tools (Jira, Azure DevOps, Miro, Confluence, ServiceNow, etc.) are not practices. They can support practices — but cannot replace:

  • meaning alignment
  • decision-grade intent
  • commitment formalization

CDS treats tooling as implementation detail below the commitment layer.