These diagrams are probably the most impactful thing I've ever done in my career given how long …

… These diagrams are probably the most impactful thing I've ever done in my career given how long they remained in daily use and the effort to draw them (which was probably a week or two? Took a long time to get the data but the drawing bit was pretty quick). Would code have made them more accurate or likely to be updated? I doubt it. Would it have made them more useful? I don't think so, the key to them being well understood and useful was mostly in the layout, something that is difficult to control in any generated diagram. I did actually have a go at using structurizr when I was there but it was too much work when compared to knocking out a quick draw.io. Personally these days I make great use of PlantUML / WebSequence diagrams and am very interested in the C4 / mermaid stuff, but I would likely take the approach of the Engineering Manager - please produce diagrams and make them: 1 - accurate and 2 - useful for whatever story you are trying to tell. …