When we present the layercake, and someone asks, “Can you send me that diagram?” - that means it did its job. It communicates the technological solution to the audience, and it becomes a tool they can use to tell a story of digital change to their peers, or maybe to their boss. Here’s a classic layercake - the “ Semantic Web” layercake from 2002 - where each technology builds atop the other or connects to the others:Īt its peak, a layercake is a storytelling aid that could fit on a playing card. At its simplest, a layercake is just a diagram made of a stack of boxes, and the basic idea is that the boxes on top are “powered by” or “built atop” the boxes below. If you work with me, you’ve seen my layercakes. When things are busy at Postlight, I probably end up drawing one layercake a day. Here is a typical chart of a cloud architecture: Amazon “ Architecture Overview.”Īnother systems overview chart from the United States Military: From “Developing Future Logistics Capabilities” note the red starbursts with the words “Automatic Triggers.” The result of TMI for the listener is usually a sense of awkward discomfort, and ultimately, boredom. ![]() It has lost sight of the listener, and the story it delivers is TMI: too much information. Because the state of tech diagramming is bad. If there is one lesson I wish the tech industry could learn about itself, it’s that most people wish we would talk less and listen more.
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