Modelling practice
Modelling practice: scope, naming, upkeep
How much to model, what to call things, and how to keep a model alive after the project that created it - the decisions that decide whether anybody reads it in a year.
4 articles26 min read
Start here
Which modelling language to use
UML, ArchiMate, BPMN and C4 get compared as if they were substitutes. They are not: each answers a different question about a different scope, and the three places they truly overlap are the only places where a choice is being made at all.
9 min read
Read in order
The part no specification covers
- 02Scoping a modelA test for deciding how much of a system to model: name the decision each view informs, and delete the views that inform none. Plus the three failure modes of an unscoped model.Modelling practice6 min read
- 03Naming conventionsNaming conventions for UML and ArchiMate models argued from searchability: nouns for classifiers, verbs for behaviour, the domain's own words, and what to do about acronyms.Modelling practice5 min read
- 04Keeping a model currentWhy architecture models go stale and what actually prevents it: attaching the model to a step that already happens, shrinking it to what the team will maintain, and deleting the rest.Modelling practice6 min read
The other series