We've all seen them - architecture diagrams that look impressive but leave everyone more confused than before. Boxes everywhere, arrows pointing in every direction, and no clear story being told.
Great architecture diagrams aren't about showing everything. They're about showing the right things to the right audience at the right level of detail.
The Problem with Most Diagrams
Most architecture diagrams fail because they try to do too much. They show every component, every connection, every detail - and in doing so, they communicate nothing.
- Too many boxes (everything is "important")
- Inconsistent abstraction levels
- No clear reading order
- Missing context about what matters
A Better Approach
Start with a question: What decision does this diagram need to support? That single question will guide everything else - what to include, what to leave out, and how to organize the visual hierarchy.
A diagram should answer a question, not just describe a system.
Three Levels of Architecture Diagrams
- 1Context: How does the system fit into the bigger picture?
- 2Containers: What are the major deployable units?
- 3Components: How is a container organized internally?
Pick one level per diagram. Mixing levels is the fastest way to create confusion.