[P5fRxh5kUvp2th]

hard agree with everything you've said here.

At my current company it's actually a fight as it's not necessarily the architects themselves that want to shit out diagrams all day.

It's a part of the job, for sure, I'm just pointing out it's not always the architect.

but your points about hands-on, respect simple, and having a wide base of experience is 100% spot-on imo. I do agree with your point about the diagrams, just wanted to point out that's sometimes due to pressures rather than wants.

[mickeyp]

Agreed with the diagrams. But, if your job is to convey information, and non-techies prefer that method, then... well, you abide. And charts _are_ useful for sure.

[ftkftk]

In my experience a few boxes and sticks usually communicate more effectively to more constituents (both technical and not) than the most well-written document. The trick is to know how much detail is necessary to include at the time.

[dr_kiszonka]

Not having this skill is the bane of my existence! There is always a person who complains* that I provide too little detail ("you need to be more rigorous/specific/careful how you define") or too much of it ("we are getting too much into the weeds here" or they just tune out). I asked a much more senior person for feedback and it is always too much or too little when go from one revision to another.

* Yes, it is better that they articulate what they don't like than just completely ignore it and leave me in the dark.

[ftkftk]

One strategy that may help is to have two pages in your diagram, where one includes more detail. I don't do it often, but when needed I will create the more detailed version first, then duplicate it and reduce the detail by just deleting boxes and maybe rerouting some sticks. You end up with more whitespace but this can be used for a nice "enhance!" effect when flipping between pages. This can however end up with an unreadable version of the high level diagram, and it may need to be reorganized. And of course there is more effort in maintaining multiple versions, if maintenance is required.

[dr_kiszonka]

I will give it a try. Thanks!