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Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

unravelled.dev

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Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#91

Post by swozey »

tough wrote: post #53
swozey wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if theres some image openAI thing I can run a diagram through to add it lol. Theres not a chance I'm spending that long unless it's maybe for an interview.

In fact ChatGPT does have diagraminig plugins you can talk to and output valid code-based diagrams. Havent tried.

I totally missed that. I enabled plugins awhile back but didn't know how to use them, you have to use gpt4 and click an arrow at the top. There's an AWS arch diagram plugin.

Anyway, I tried to get it to diagram a multiaz multiregion AWS nodejs frontend w/ rds backend app and it kept hitting api limits. I hate that that's a problem when I'm paying $20/mo but whatever. Like, just SLOW down the api calls. Stop ending the entire response. It's frustrating. Then it just tries again and hits the same limit. Some AI.

I then shrunk it to something tiny just to see what it was, because I have no idea if its a mermaid diagram or uses the AWS icons or what, and it send me a broken image link. I told it the image didn't show up, and it sent me a direct S3 link. The S3 link gave me access denied. lol.

Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#92

Post by turdprincess »

It’s crazy to me that in todays remote first climate, many engineers still can’t effectively make diagrams without an actual whiteboard and marker. A great way to stand out as a senior contributor is to get the hang of using a virtual diagramming tool, both for design documents and live discussions.

Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#94

Post by kandros »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #35
Veuxdo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are just expensive to build, expensive to maintain and go out of date fast enough that they're practically ephemeral. I agree with this if you're using drag-and-drop diagramming tools. Diagrams-as-code is a potential solution IMO: https://www.ilograph.com/blog/posts/its-time-to-drop-drag-an...

I’m a fan of systems where the diagram and code can be changed on both sides, too. Though they lack flexibility and require a sort of convention or framework to bind both sides. Often they can work incredibly well but tend to have a narrow use case. Something like XState and the Stately studio editor comes to mind; it’ll generate state machine diagrams from code or vice versa. But it only manages state charts. I’m no…

I’ve used old xstate visualizer (like 4 years ago) as a communication tool to review flows with domain experts before implementing something, made conversation and spotting problems so easy

Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#95

Post by cwdegidio »

hbcondo714 wrote: post #52
dragonwriter wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I miss Visio, it was awful but everyone used it and it improved communication. Did it go somewhere? (I generally prefer more declarative diagramming now — mermaidjs is my go to — but Visio is still around and widely used.)

There is still no desktop version of Visio for macOS https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/use-visio-on-a-ma...

When I need to create diagrams for anything (systems, code architecture, component design, etc) I reach for OmniGraffle on macOS. I've tried to use other tools, but it has served me well for years.

Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#98

Post by duderific »

stetrain wrote: post #42

There's some discussion here about linking diagrams to code or vice-versa. And while that's useful for documenting code already written, where I personally have found diagrams to be the most useful is in the planning discussions before and during writing the code in the first place. A room full of people can talk about things for hours without making progress, but as soon as you starting moving boxes and arrows aroun…

Often, someone will be explaining something to me, but it's too complex to mentally model, or I'm not familiar enough with the architecture they're describing. So I'll say "I need boxes and arrows", we'll step over to a whiteboard, and it will be cleared up in a few minutes.

Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#99

Post by kzhen »

malablaster wrote: post #97

How does this post have no diagrams?

Hi, article author here, the reason this post has no diagrams is because it isn't about how to draw C4 diagrams but rather about some of the benefits I've found being able to refer to them in different circumstances. Given the traction this post has received I'm thinking of doing a follow up and try to explain the process I've gone through to build the ones my team uses. Would that be useful for you?

Re: Architecture diagrams enable better conversations

#100

Post by jeazy »

FearNotDaniel wrote: post #90
rammy1234 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use MermaidJS for flow chart and Sequence diagram. They have C4 in beta. I tried and it is hard adjust the layout and many features are not supported for C4 yet. Visual Studio has good support for MermaidJS. https://mermaid.js.org/intro/

I think you mean Visual Studio _Code_. Completely separate product. Not your fault of course, but the geniuses at Microsoft who gave the same name to two different IDEs in an environment where users of the second one are very unlikely to be aware of the existence of the first. Still, it's an important distinction worth knowing about because they have their own distinct extension ecosystems that are not mutually compa…

Wow ya learn something new everyday. I had no idea but it did seem odd there were two options from our internal software portal to download ides with similar names but the same exact logo.
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