The Power of Data in Modeling

By Tim Ackroyd on

There is a big difference between Drawing Tools and Modeling Tools such as Sparx Enterprise Architect (EA). Any modeling tool that models data around diagrams rather than tools that simply draw shapes and lines.

Sure, some drawing tools have some "properties" relevant to shapes applied to a drawing area, such as date/time and metadata relevant to the element being applied. However, this is nowhere near enough to support effective system/software architecture or engineering.

If pictures speak a thousand words, it best to see the "thousand words" the picture is speaking!

I am in too many projects where architects, engineers, and modelers present a picture, either in a Wiki, PowerPoint, PDF, or other platform, and then cannot speak effectively (or remember) what the picture they are speaking to represents. And if there is a problem or question, they cannot effectively address or fix.

The problem is that nice suits and presentations march into some leadership or decision-maker office and sell them on wares that do not effectively or productively work for their needs. Then the company or shop has to buy and deploy many tools to fill in gaps.

If a stakeholder has to go to multiple places to understand something, and the major cost is the labor dollars relevant to those stakeholders, then the investment in tooling to understand your intelligence (data) has been poorly implemented.

I tend to look for "Data First" tooling, where things such as "Drawing" or "Modeling" start with modeling the "Data" and not just the "Pictures". Sure, if all you want to do is draw pictures, and that is enough, then choose a "Drawing Tool". However, if you have to go through multiple artifacts or pages in a Wiki to find and understand the Pictures, then don't come whining to me 😇

In today's world of AI and NLP, and following my approaches to Software/System Architecture and Engineering, we can crawl through our intelligence and speak at any level to best understand where we are, and predict where we need to be.

In our Channel, UML Operator, we are focused on Models with an emphasis on Data-Driven in Model-Driven-Anything (MDA). Some of our content includes playlists for  Dealing with Data, and starter content such as Sparx EA Inspector.

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