Comment Re:And I Use It to Weed Out Staff (Score 1) 219
I agree - modeling is useful to me in several ways, but it can be abused.
As the development team is working on a design, modeling can clarify what someone is talking about. I find its easier to work on a system if I've seen a sketch of the area I'm working on beforehand. And sometimes drawing a diagram on the whiteboard gets other people to 'oh, I see' far faster than with just a verbal explanation.
It also helps soldify a design. With diagrams, it becomes easier to notice if you've left something out. It is easier for the team to walk through behavior if you've got bubbles to point to while you're doing so.
Its also useful long term to have the design written down, if its kept up to date, for example when a new developer joins the project and needs to come up to speed.
But you have to know when to draw the line. I don't think its good to just use it as a specification - hand it to a developer and say here, code this.
I'm not particular about the language the model is written in. UML is as good as any other. The biggest advantage I see to it is its broad acceptance.
As the development team is working on a design, modeling can clarify what someone is talking about. I find its easier to work on a system if I've seen a sketch of the area I'm working on beforehand. And sometimes drawing a diagram on the whiteboard gets other people to 'oh, I see' far faster than with just a verbal explanation.
It also helps soldify a design. With diagrams, it becomes easier to notice if you've left something out. It is easier for the team to walk through behavior if you've got bubbles to point to while you're doing so.
Its also useful long term to have the design written down, if its kept up to date, for example when a new developer joins the project and needs to come up to speed.
But you have to know when to draw the line. I don't think its good to just use it as a specification - hand it to a developer and say here, code this.
I'm not particular about the language the model is written in. UML is as good as any other. The biggest advantage I see to it is its broad acceptance.
