Optimizing Legacy Systems for Flow

Frequent wait times, repeated hand-over between teams, tightly coupled architecture, high technical debt, lack of clear ownership, high team cognitive load are some of potential impediments to flow that can slow down an organization’s software delivery performance and may reduce its adaptability to change.

Do you encounter blockers to flow in your organization?

Illustration of stick figures entangled in overlapping lines (representing a big ball of mud) connecting sticky notes with blockers to flow: frequent wait times, repeated handoffs, high technical debt, tightly coupled architecture, unpredictable side effects, lack of clear ownership, high team cognitive load , and many more impediments. The tangled lines and struggling figures represent the blockers to flow teams face in legacy systems.

How I Can Help

Assess, Align & Design – Architecture for Flow Workshops

Through a structured workshop series, we will assess your current status quo, get clarity on your current challenges, model future landscapes, design architecture, and align teams together for sustainable flow. These sessions follow the Architecture for Flow Canvas and can be tailored to your needs:

Assessing your current challenges
Mapping your current landscape
Categorizing your problem space and modularizing your solution space with Domain-Driven Design
Aligning teams and interactions … etc.

Build Knowledge & Capabilities – Training Programs

Learn the principles, patterns and practices of Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Team Topologies – either in separate training sessions or combined. Training sessions can include:

Architecture for Flow Masterclass
Domain-Driven Design in Practice (from EventStorming to implementation patterns)
Wardley Mapping Fundamentals

Advisory & Consulting – Recurring Engagements

Beyond one-off workshops or training sessions, I offer recurring engagements to support your optimization journey. That can include:

Ongoing strategic and technical advisory
Regular review sessions with leadership & teams
Collaborative modelling sessions
Hands-on pairing/software teaming sessions, e.g., for refactoring

Quick Start – Discovery Session

Not sure where to begin? Let’s start with a focused discovery session to identify your most critical challenges and outline a path forward.

CONTACT

About Me

I am Susanne Kaiser, an independent tech consultant from Hamburg, Germany, passionate about tackling complex systems. With over 20 years in software engineering and experience as a startup CTO, I have learned that sustainable flow requires addressing multiple perspectives from business strategy, software architecture and design, and team organization.

My approach connects Wardley Mapping, Domain-Driven Design, and Team Topologies as a holistic toolset. This methodology is detailed in my book “Architecture for Flow” (Addison-Wesley Signature Series, 2025).

Beyond consulting and trainings, I regularly speak at international tech conferences, sharing insights on building adaptive, socio-technical systems.