Stop Drawing Pointless Arrows: Taming Complexity with Diagrams • David Khourshid • YOW! 2024

This presentation was recorded at YOW! Australia 2024. #GOTOcon #YOW
yowcon.com/

David Khourshid - Founder of Stately.ai ‪@davidkpiano‬

RESOURCES
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Links
   • Microservices  
sqldbm.com/
database.build/
swimlanes.io/
github.com/statelyai/inspect
appmap.io/
state.new/
stately.ai/docs
www.figma.com/figjam

ABSTRACT
Complexity in software doesn't have to be a black box. As features evolve, bugs get fixed, and edge cases emerge, understanding software can become increasingly challenging—not just for developers, but for the entire team.

In this talk, we'll explore how essential diagrams, like state machines, sequence diagrams, and entity relationship diagrams, can help manage that complexity. We'll also go a step further, discussing how these diagrams can remain synchronized with the code and how they can be analyzed to uncover logical flaws, potential issues, and missing use cases. [...]

TIMECODES
00:00 Intro
03:30 What is a diagram?
10:01 UML: The good parts
10:25 Entity-relationship diagrams
14:01 Sequence diagrams
21:53 State machines
33:24 Diagrams reveal complexity
34:36 Intention, audience & scope
36:21 Making diagrams is easy
36:59 Unlabeled objects
37:24 Pointless arrows
37:56 Too much detail
38:29 Too little detail
39:07 Mixing diagrams
39:53 Hard to follow
41:28 Symbol & color overuse
42:42 Tools & resources
45:29 Outro

Download slides and read the full abstract here:
yowcon.com/brisbane-2024/sessions/3496

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Heidi Helfand • Dynamic Reteaming • amzn.to/3Fvu5BA
Abby Covert & Jenny Benevento • Stuck? Diagrams Help. • amzn.to/4doZR3G
Ian Horrocks • Constructing the User Interface with Statecharts • amzn.to/4dge42x
Carl Larson & Frank M J LaFasto • Teamwork • amzn.to/4cFWseQ
Gene Kim & Steve Spear • Wiring the Winning Organization • amzn.to/3QJcfBp
Ichak Adizes • Managing Corporate Lifecycles • amzn.to/3MjpRQV
Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless • The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures • amzn.to/3AtmXXt
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • amzn.to/3sVLyLQ

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