[michaelrpeskin]

One trick that I always fall back on is to make a dependency graph. In meetings I used to pull up yuml.com but now I use mermaid. You can just start typing text and arrows and it renders in real time what depends on what. It's great in a live meeting to help focus people on where the problem really is, or in documentation to show why a change here will affect something there.

Both yuml and mermaid don't get you control over layout. I think that's a feature. If the layout engine can make a pretty picture that means your dependencies aren't too complex, but if the graph looks terrible and complicated, that means you're system is also probably terrible and complicated.

[loa_in_]

To save others confusion, it's not yuml.com but yuml.me, a UML diagramming tool

[michaelrpeskin]

Sorry, you're right. It's been so long since I used it, I forgot that it wasn't a .com domain.

[KolibriFly]

Totally agree on the lack of layout control being a hidden strength. When the graph looks like spaghetti, that's not a tool issue - it's a systems issue

[firesteelrain]

I wish we could use that. I can’t use them because mermaid doesn’t have a way to assure no data is stored on mermaid servers so I can’t use it for anything proprietary or even work related at all. LucidChart has a way to tie into Corporate though

[illusive4080]

I just use VSCode with a markdown file and the mermaid preview extension. It’s all local.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vstirbu....

[firesteelrain]

I can’t even get that approved.

[vanviegen]

Does corporate IT need to whitelist every VSCode extension that's being used? I can see the logic -it's running arbitrary code on your system as your user on their network- but damn! How does that even work? A self-hosted VSCode marketplace or something?

[firesteelrain]

Basically. VSCode supports airgap install or offline install of plugins. Store them in Artifactory like an arbitrary location like vs-code-plugins and then ask an admin to install them on your VM.

[illusive4080]

Ouch. We are headed that direction. The problem is, if a vulnerability is found in a plugin, then you have to get everyone to manually upgrade. Doing it this way means everyone’s software is always out of date, which has its own drawbacks too.

[w10-1]

mermaid layout doesn't scale for me so I keep using yEd/yFiles and their tgf (trivial graph format -- tab-delimited relations) input with orthogonal layout. It's a bit of a hassle in a meeting but updates take about 15 seconds to refresh if you have everything set up. Automating it fully would require an expensive license.