About Paul Rayner
Software design consultant, EventStorming facilitator, and founder of Explore DDD
Software design consultant, EventStorming facilitator, and founder of Explore DDD
Paul Rayner is a seasoned software design consultant with over 35 years of experience helping organizations tackle complex software challenges. As founder of Virtual Genius, Paul specializes in EventStorming facilitation and Domain-Driven Design, working with teams worldwide to discover better solutions through collaborative modeling and strategic design.
His approach combines deep technical expertise with exceptional facilitation skills, enabling diverse teams—from business stakeholders to developers—to explore complex domains together and align on what to build next. Paul believes the best software solutions emerge from collaborative discovery, not top-down mandates.
Through workshops, training, and coaching engagements, Paul has helped organizations from startups to Fortune 500 companies improve their software design practices, modernize legacy systems, and build more maintainable, business-aligned software architectures.
Expert facilitator of Big Picture and Process-Level EventStorming workshops
Strategic and tactical DDD patterns, context mapping, and model-driven design
Facilitating cross-functional teams to discover and design solutions together
Strategic design, bounded contexts, microservices, and evolutionary architecture
Applying DDD techniques to improve and evolve existing systems
Helping teams adopt DDD practices and improve software design skills
Example Mapping and collaborative specification practices for aligning teams
Virtual Genius is the official North American partner for Domain Language and Avanscoperta, providing all training engagements in North America for both companies.
Alberto Brandolini's company. Virtual Genius delivers all EventStorming consulting and training services in North America.
Alberto Brandolini invented EventStorming and is a renowned expert in collaborative modeling and Domain-Driven Design.
Eric Evans' company. Domain Language refers all DDD training engagements in North America to Virtual Genius.
Eric Evans authored the seminal book "Domain-Driven Design" and coined the term that revolutionized software architecture.
In 2017, Paul founded Explore DDD, the premier North American conference dedicated to Domain-Driven Design, bringing together the DDD community to share knowledge, experiences, and insights.
Explore DDD features expert speakers, hands-on workshops, and deep-dive sessions covering strategic design, tactical patterns, EventStorming, collaborative modeling, and the social aspects of software development. The conference has become the leading North American gathering place for DDD practitioners.
Paul is a frequent speaker at software conferences worldwide, sharing insights on Domain-Driven Design, EventStorming, collaborative modeling, and software architecture.
"The best software emerges from collaborative discovery between business experts and technical teams. EventStorming and DDD provide the tools and language for that collaboration to flourish."
Paul's approach emphasizes:
Paul actively contributes to the software design community through open source tools and resources:
Interested in EventStorming, DDD training, or coaching for your team? Get in touch to discuss how we can help.