how to make pretty pictures for managers

[Peter Korsten]

Tony Scharf schreef:

> Recently people were discussing UML.  I havnt really used it much, so I 
> dont really understand how to do it properly. 

You'd probably need formal training in it. Takes about a week.

> Essentially, I have the problem that I need to communicate with both 
> managers and a group of programmers in Germany.  In both cases, we have 
> a serious language barrier and I have found that drawing pictures for 
> them helps. 
> 
> Is UML the right tool for this?  there has to be a proper standard way 
> to draw up these process and object diagarms that I could use that 
> everyone could understand.  I have had my own chicken scratch on graph 
> paper methode I have used for myself for years, but thats not going to 
> work. 

I would say yes, it would work, although I'm not sure how useful it will 
be for managers. Just for the use case diagrams and high-level 
overviews, I suppose.

Mind that you can use (and probably should use) UML from the stakeholder 
interviews to the deployment diagrams and everything in between. In your 
case I say yes, it'll help, but don't expect to master it by looking up 
some pages on the web, because there is a whole design process behind it.

- Peter