Software engineering · Business & strategy
Bounded context.
A defined boundary within which a particular model and its terms have a consistent meaning.
Useful when different teams use the same word differently.
“Separate the billing and delivery bounded contexts; a customer does not need the same model in both.”
A closer look
Billing may care about a customer’s payment terms while delivery cares about addresses and access instructions. Each model can be internally coherent without forcing one universal definition. Define how the contexts exchange information rather than assuming their objects are interchangeable.
Put it to work
“Document what “account” means in the sales context before mapping it to the identity system.”
A useful distinction
A bounded context is a model boundary. It can inform service boundaries, but it does not require a separate microservice.