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What's the most productive tool you've found?
I keep going back to Visio, but I really want a tool purpose designed for quick architecture diagrams that's more opinionated.
Visio is so open ended, to me, it feels only slightly more efficient than using Photoshop.
Question. What tools are people using for architecture documentation besides Visio? What's the most productive tool you've found? I keep going back to Visio, but I really want a tool purpose designed for quick architecture diagrams that's more opinionated. Visio is so open ended, to me, it feels only slightly more efficient than using Photoshop.
Also as far as I’m aware arc42 is a part of training courses for iSAQ certification for sw architects.
Question. What tools are people using for architecture documentation besides Visio? What's the most productive tool you've found? I keep going back to Visio, but I really want a tool purpose designed for quick architecture diagrams that's more opinionated. Visio is so open ended, to me, it feels only slightly more efficient than using Photoshop.
Many of my documents do indeed have a similar layout for design and it is nice to see efforts like this to create more rigor in SW architecture. As a practitioner (and being opinionated), I have these observations: - The "Building block view" is really the high level Structural Design. I tend to use structural decomposition to relay this information, iteratively breaking down into subsystems, components, etc. For thi…
As I was reading this I felt that it overlapped and complemented the C4 approach in a lot of places. There's even a superficial connection: C4 is contained in the title!
Compare that to a C4 Landscape or Context diagram - and its just night and day - so much more meaningful information and the ability to express not just structure, but to provide hints at data flows, actors, and externalities. In the end, I've found the most value for C4 in communicating architecture to upper management and new hires. These diagrams really make more sense than boxes and lines.
For arc42 I find the document content really appealing - its like engineering thinking. There is no standard template/model for design docs, perhaps this could start a baseline or trend to do something similar. I do still prefer Structural and Behavioral classifications.
[1] Simon Brown, creator of C4 https://simonbrown.je/
They also mention ADR (architecture decision records). Even if it’s yet another fad, most companies I’ve worked for really needed a framework like this. I have only skimmed it so far but I’ll definitely talk to the managers and architects at my company about it. Any kind of formalization on this topic is greatly needed.
Question. What tools are people using for architecture documentation besides Visio? What's the most productive tool you've found? I keep going back to Visio, but I really want a tool purpose designed for quick architecture diagrams that's more opinionated. Visio is so open ended, to me, it feels only slightly more efficient than using Photoshop.
Many of my documents do indeed have a similar layout for design and it is nice to see efforts like this to create more rigor in SW architecture. As a practitioner (and being opinionated), I have these observations: - The "Building block view" is really the high level Structural Design. I tend to use structural decomposition to relay this information, iteratively breaking down into subsystems, components, etc. For thi…
As I was reading this I felt that it overlapped and complemented the C4 approach in a lot of places. There's even a superficial connection: C4 is contained in the title!
Question. What tools are people using for architecture documentation besides Visio? What's the most productive tool you've found? I keep going back to Visio, but I really want a tool purpose designed for quick architecture diagrams that's more opinionated. Visio is so open ended, to me, it feels only slightly more efficient than using Photoshop.
I've written about requirements for docu-tools https://www.innoq.com/en/articles/2022/01/principles-of-tech...
In short: You need text + diagramming tools. Go as light as possible, start small (draw.io and Markdown/AsciiDoc). Use high-end modeling tools (like Enterprise Architect or ArchiMate only in larger teams and/or with formal documentation requirements (20+ devs). Have a look at docToolchain.