Interview with Zheng Jimin on Domain-Driven Design Practices and Technical Brand Building at Qunar

Since the rise of micro‑services, Domain‑Driven Design (DDD) has re‑entered the spotlight as a methodology for decomposing business domains, defining boundaries, and guiding architectural evolution.

We interviewed Zheng Jimin, technical director of Qunar's ticket‑destination group and member of the technical committee, who led the award‑winning internal DDD project that reshaped hotel pricing APIs.

Zheng explains his two main responsibilities: overseeing the hotel pricing center and the business architecture team, and driving technical committee activities such as architecture SIG operations, project reviews, and technical brand building.

Promoting DDD internally required strong executive support and concrete success stories; without a team that can deliver and share results, large‑scale adoption stalls.

He outlines three critical phases of DDD adoption—strategic design, tactical design, and system implementation—emphasising that a solid strategic foundation (two prerequisites, one principle, one method) is essential for downstream success.

Key prerequisites include deep knowledge of core business logic and a clear understanding of existing requirements; the principle is the "business atom principle" to keep boundaries clean; the method is to guarantee business atoms by uncovering the business essence.

Implementation challenges he faced involved handling new product demands, unexpected additional requirements, and resource reallocation, all mitigated through priority‑based development, early testing, and maintaining team morale.

DDD has delivered tangible results at Qunar, earning CEO special awards and improving multiple business lines such as hotel orders, basic data, flight main site, service platform, and membership cards.

He cautions that DDD is not a universal cure; it suits complex core domains with clear domain experts, and should focus on business re‑engineering rather than pure technical refactoring.

Regarding technical influence, Zheng highlights internal knowledge sharing (282 sessions in a year, reaching over 300,000 participants) and external outreach (conference talks, B‑station videos, inter‑company exchanges) as drivers of brand strength.

To boost a company's technical influence, he recommends regular article publication, internal and external tech events, and collaborative alliances like the ITCP.

For new managers, Zheng advises a mindset shift from individual output to team output, continuous learning of management theory and tools, and balancing technical growth with deep business understanding.