How to Draw Epic IT Architecture Diagrams

Practical and consistent conventions from my experience.

Architecture is a discipline. It is also a device that assists in thinking and communication. As the latter, architecture deals with an overall system's static and dynamic structure through models constructed of defined components, their external features and relationships.

Drawings are one of the oldest and most straightforward ways we represent things, real or imaginary. Naturally, they are the heart of architectural thinking and modelling. They define and transmit the model. Diagramming well is a critical ability for an architect.

Most architects prefer just to draw closed shapes and connect them with arrows to express their structures. While this is natural, if it is not done well, it has wide and long-lasting downsides for the entire solution, the people and organisations involved. The quality should not vary drastically by who is drawing the picture.

In this article, I will put down conventions to produce clear, compelling and consistent architectural diagrams. ISO, DIN, ANSI and other standards exist for process flow diagrams, IEEE for electrical diagrams, etc. The UML (Unified Modelling Language) standard is available for software application architecture modelling, and many architects use it, but it is non-intuitive, confusing…