System diagrams are designed to create shared understanding among developers before writing a single line of code, but they often end up confusing the stakeholders they are meant to inform. Sometimes, this isn’t a too much information problem, it’s that they contain information, presented in ways that violate how we process visual hierarchies and relationships. In the long run, these poorly built diagrams increase the risk of design flaws. If your team faces this issue, you can fix them with this four rules.
