DeveloperWeek Management 2024 + AI DevSummit 2024 (+ DW Europe/LATAM 2024)

James Miller, Comcast, Distinguished Engineer

In this session I draw from my experience as a distinguished engineer and my role in aligning architecture across a large company to explore the critical function of visual diagrams in facilitating team consensus and clear communication. This session highlights how effective, intelligible diagrams serve as indispensable tools in navigating the complexities of software development, ensuring team coherence, and driving project success. By sharing methodologies, practical tips, and real-world examples, I aim to equip attendees with the skills to leverage a variety of diagrams for enhancing project outcomes and furthering their own careers. Based on a foundation of extensive experience in technical leadership and architectural design, we will cover several common architecture diagram techniques for visualizing and presenting software architecture at different levels of abstraction that can help facilitate knowledge sharing across teams. We will cover specific techniques and examples using layered architecture, C4, component, deployment and sequence diagrams, and more. This talk addresses the vital role of visual tools in bridging understanding gaps among diverse development teams, emphasizing the importance of diagrams in the context of large-scale software projects and organizational alignment.