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

This presentation was recorded at YOW! Australia 2024. #GOTOcon #YOW https://yowcon.com David Khourshid - Founder of Stately.ai @davidkpiano RESOURCES https://bsky.app/profile/davidkpiano.bsky.social https://twitter.com/davidkpiano https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidkpiano https://github.com/davidkpiano Links https://youtu.be/y8OnoxKotPQ https://sqldbm.com https://database.build https://swimlanes.io https://github.com/statelyai/inspect https://appmap.io https://state.new https://stately.ai/docs https://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: https://yowcon.com/brisbane-2024/sessions/3496 RECOMMENDED BOOKS Heidi Helfand • Dynamic Reteaming • https://amzn.to/3Fvu5BA Abby Covert & Jenny Benevento • Stuck? Diagrams Help. • https://amzn.to/4doZR3G Ian Horrocks • Constructing the User Interface with Statecharts • https://amzn.to/4dge42x Carl Larson & Frank M J LaFasto • Teamwork • https://amzn.to/4cFWseQ Gene Kim & Steve Spear • Wiring the Winning Organization • https://amzn.to/3QJcfBp Ichak Adizes • Managing Corporate Lifecycles • https://amzn.to/3MjpRQV Henri Lipmanowicz & Keith McCandless • The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures • https://amzn.to/3AtmXXt Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies • http://amzn.to/3sVLyLQ https://bsky.app/profile/gotocon.com https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Complexity #Diagrams #PointlessArrows #UML #UnifiedModelingLanguage #ObjectManagementGroup #StateMachines #SequenceDiagram #EntityRelationshipDiagram #DavidKhourshid #YOWcon CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1