Techniques
Whiteboard wall — sticky notes and string
The collaborative workshop idiom: free-form sticky notes in six paper colours, push-pins and tape, with sagging string relations between the notes they connect.
ddn@1New DDN source
Why use it?
Early workshops die in record-keeping tooling; a sticky note carries one thought and no structure, so the wall stays at the speed of the conversation.
When it helps
Discovery workshops, brainstorming, affinity grouping, retrospectives — anywhere the model is not yet agreed.
How to read it
- Each note is its body text only — no name header, no fields, no kind chip; the colour is a declared x_sticky choice.
- A string relation sags like pinned thread: it says "these two belong together" and nothing more.
What you need
- One thought per note
- The x_sticky decoration (colour, pin, tape)
- String routing on the view
Things to check
- Do not put fields on a sticky note — the moment a note has rows it is an entity and should be modelled as one.
- String is presentation routing: it carries the relation, never adds meaning to it.
Scope of this diagram
Six declared paper colours and the pin/tape decorations; free placement on an infinite canvas is a host-tool concern, the wall uses declared layout.
Work with the converted example
- Open the viewer and select
workshop. Inspect the rendered view and its source. - Open the designer. Keep the selected profile and inspect its legal palette and property controls.
- Change one displayed title or an appropriate data value. Apply the edit and check the resulting diagram.
- Run the verifier and review its diagnostics before moving complete content into review.
- Download your edited DDN source to retain the change.
The example uses the indentation-based ddn-next-1 dialect. The language guide explains reusable definitions, dotted data rows and explicit property blocks.