Chapter 10
Visualize Design Decisions

The best way to share an idea is to make it tangible. Tell me about your architecture and I may not understand you. Show me your architecture, and I can explore it at my own pace, using my preferred cognitive style. Developers intuitively know this. Need to talk about an abstract idea? Find a whiteboard and start sketching. If we can draw the idea we’re trying to share, then we’ll know our imaginations are in sync.

Anyone can draw. Architecture diagrams don’t need to be pretty, but they do need to share ideas effectively. In Chapter 8, ​Manage Complexity with Meaningful Models​ you learned how to create accurate models so you can reason about how well the architecture promotes desired quality attributes. In this chapter, you will learn how to draw architecture diagrams to enhance communication among developers.