2026-08-24 Monday - On The Value of Diagrams

This post was inspired by my reply/comment to a LinkedIn post by Will Borici (Senior Consultant - Platform Strategy | Business Architecture (Data/AI-enabled); NTT DATA, Inc.)

 

[image credit: Vilkasss on pixabay dot com]

Over the weekend, I decided to get started building a piece of software that I have long wanted, and needed. In the past, I have used one commercially available software utility – but it was acquired, and is no longer available. Then I switched to using an open source utility – but it is no longer maintained.

So, I decided to begin.

But, beginning does not mean immediately writing code.

I had some very clear thoughts on what I wanted the software to do, but I wanted to explore the requirements, use cases, and design first.

So, I began drawing diagrams.
Diagrams allowed me to see layers of complexity – that if I had simply started coding – would have constrained, or made more difficult, implementing layers of features I *discovered* that I really wanted.

The more I drew, the more my vision became clearer, crisper, tangible. Reflecting on the diagrams - helped me to see which features to build first, and ways of making it more useful to others.


And, I was reminded, yet again ...
Drawing is a goodness, not a waste.
Even if the diagrams are thrown away, eventually.
Even if the diagrams are no longer maintained.

The diagrams are part of the process in creating great software products. 

2020-08-25 Tuesday - Ideas for Architecture Diagram Title Blocks

Photo by Sergey Zolkin on Unsplash
https://unsplash.com/photos/m9qMoh-scfE

 

 I've begun drafting some ideas for what kind of information may be useful to include in "Title Block" for architecture diagrams. 

• I think that the current state (or, lack thereof) of annotating software design architectural drawings - is abysmal - and much might be gleaned by looking left-and-right - and seeing how other industries annotate their diagrams.
  

• Problem Statement:

  • Diagrams that are exported from authoring tools, culled form PowerPoint, Visio, etc. - usually do not have a proper "Title Block" included.
  • These diagrams are then uploaded to various places, emailed, shared, embedded (e.g. in PPT, Word, web sites, etc.).
  • Thus, the thread of context is lost - and they become orphans, once separated - with no clear traceability (i.e. Who, What, When, Where, Why)

• I've done a brief survey of different Title Block styles - from various construction blueprints and building architecture diagrams - to gather some examples - as input to writing this document.
  

• My current working draft (admittedly, I've "boiled the ocean" - and it is a bit of overkill. As always, take what works for you - and discard the rest):
  
• https://github.com/intltechventures/Lab.Architecture/blob/master/Views/TitleBlock.md
  

2014-12-03 Wednesday - Micosoft Office Visio Stencil 2014

Useful:

For anyone who uses Visio to document software/architecture, this is a useful download: Microsoft Office Visio Stencil 2014
http://www.microsoft.com/en-nz/download/details.aspx?id=35772


2016-03-24 Update:
Orbus offers a free Visio stencil for TOGAF(tm) diagrams
http://www.orbussoftware.com/resources/starter-packs/togaf-91-starter-pack