Domain-Driven Design in Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review on Implementation, Challenges, and Effectiveness

Context: Domain-Driven Design (DDD) has gained significant attention in software development for its potential to address complex software challenges, particularly in the areas of system refactoring, reimplementation, and adoption. Using domain knowledge, DDD aims to solve complex business problems effectively. Objective: This SLR aims to provide an analysis of existing research on DDD in software development, paint a picture of DDD in solving software problems, identify the challenges encountered during its application and explore the results of these studies. Method: We systematically selected 36 peer reviewed studies and conducted quantitative and qualitative analyzes to synthesize the findings. Results: DDD has effectively improved software systems, with its key concepts. The application of DDD in microservices has gained prominence for its ability to facilitate system decomposition. Some studies lacked empirical evaluations, highlighting challenges in onboarding and the need for expertise. Conclusion: Adopting DDD benefits software development, involving stakeholders such as engineers, architects, managers, and domain experts. More empirical evaluations and open discussions on challenges are needed. Collaboration between academia and industry advances the adoption and transfer of knowledge of DDD in projects.