#Architecture diagram programming tv#

Two Is Better Than Oneĭid you ever watch those tv infomercials where they say “but wait, there’s more”? You want to be like that guy when it comes to building architecture diagrams. You’d start by showing them the clutch and the gearshift.

#Architecture diagram programming how to#

You don’t always have to start at the beginning.īack to the car analogy, if you were teaching someone to drive a manual transmission, you wouldn’t show them the steering wheel, gas pedal, and brake pedal if they already knew how to drive an automatic transmission. Knowing your audience is a great place to start when deciding on the type of diagram to build. Give enough information where it isn’t overwhelming. Is your audience a developer who understands all the technical detail and wants to know the ins and outs of what they need to build? Start a little lower with the component diagram of the C4 model. Who is the intended audience of this diagram? Are you pitching your idea to someone who is completely unfamiliar with the domain? Start with the system context diagram of the C4 model. But introducing your audience to something without the knowledge you have leaves your diagram looking like hieroglyphics. A person can typically remember up to four things at once, so starting with the basics is key to getting them to follow your train of thought.Īs developers, we assume “the more information the better” and try to pack in information in data-dense diagrams. Instead, they showed you the necessary pieces to get you comfortable with the concept of driving. That would be overwhelming and you would have retained nothing. When your driving instructor got in the car with you the first time, they didn’t explain what every button, dial, and handle did in the car. By seeing the written words you will have an easier time building your message. If you conceptually know the message you want to convey but are having a hard time putting it in words, it might help to either talk out loud and describe what you are about to draw, or writing down an explanation of what you’re trying to accomplish.

If you don’t know what your message is, ask yourself what is the value this diagram is providing? Before you draw your first box on the page, figure out your message. The same concept applies when building architecture diagrams. It provides context and a deeper meaning than simply labeling the parts of the vehicle. The message the instructor was conveying was how to safely and properly drive a car. You would have tried to figure it out on your own because driving is much more than knowing what the parts are in a car.īut since the instructor explained how the pieces go together and how you interact with them, you pick up on the underlying message. If the instructor said “ this is the steering wheel, this is the transmission, and these are the gas and brake pedals”, chances are you would not have learned how to drive. There was context around each step to show you how each one was necessary to proceed to the next. When you were learning how to drive, the instructor would describe the steps necessary to start the car, put it in drive, then pull into traffic. Let’s take an analogy of learning how to drive a car. It’s not just a bunch of boxes, arrows, and text thrown around haphazardly on a page.

This might sound obvious, but a diagram is much more than a picture. Let’s talk about some tips to kick start your diagramming career. You might even get inspiration for creating a brand new type of architecture diagram. You start understanding how to convey your ideas a little better and you get some muscle memory for building the different types of architecture diagrams. It took a while for inspiration to strike. I’d then draw the same box again and delete it again. I remember when I first started drawing them I would just stare at a blank screen wondering how to get started. The best and fastest way to make sure my ideas are understood is by drawing a diagram. My job as a Solutions Architect is to come up with designs and share them with others around my organization. To some, that might seem like a daunting task. 7 diagrams I needed to draw after 5 days of work. Whenever I was in a meeting, if I said I can draw a diagram for that, I wrote a tick mark.Īt the end of the week, I had 7 tick marks drawn. I had a sticky note on my desk labeled “Architecture Diagrams”.