On UML and whiteboarding

Question

I'm trying to create the right UML when we have our design / whiteboarding sessions, but my attempt at a well-structured UML ALWAYS degrades into uml-look-but-understandable-to-the-the-the-number-with-a-little-explanation. But is this enough for an unsurpassed engineer? Do you always produce well-structured UML on your boards? What would you advise a developer who might not have thought that it was important that he did not see it in the book of design templates and had no idea that wtf was going on.

Answer 1

I never use UML in my design sessions. This is always a free form. Then, depending on the project, we turn back and transform it into a much more structured UML design while creating the “final” specifications that the developers will program. It was my experience that, as a rule, prevents project activities from focusing on the correct form, especially when half or more people in the room have no idea what any of the diagrams means.

Answer 2

You see that there is a lot of discussion about software development and whether we need it or not, the fact depends on which system you are developing. The more ambiguous the system requirements are, the more you need SE tools and methods!

UML helps the client have an idea of ​​the internal system. This is when you use usage charts. It’s true that some people don’t understand this, but it’s very simple to explain the usage pattern. Then you have a class diagram to help you understand the first major classes and packages that you need to develop. Another UML digram is not that important.

Here is a simple website to help you create cool digrams and use graphics in seconds online:

http://yuml.me/

I have never done a medium / large project without using these two digrams

Answer 3

Well, I really don't think you need strict UML.

As far as everyone understands the design and recognize that everything is in order. I prefer a flexible methodology to be able to prototype / test the project in the future and be able to change the “non-strict” specification than to have everything decisive and untouchable from scratch.

In the real world, you get surprises even with the most carefully planned UML specification