01The diagrams existed. The context did not.
Our systems were documented across Miro boards and Confluence pages. They helped for a moment, then quietly fell behind. People stopped returning. The architecture was still there, but the shared understanding was not.
02I started with one C4 diagram.
I wanted a way for my team to explain every service and interaction under our care—quickly, clearly, and without creating another document that would be forgotten. C4 gave the model a language. Interactivity made it useful.
03The model became a place people came back to.
Once the diagram could open into flows, contracts, decisions and implementation context, it stopped being a snapshot. Knowledge stayed connected to the systems it described, and the context in people’s heads stopped disappearing.