Are UML component diagrams helpful to non-technical users?

Question

Are high-level UML-style component diagrams helpful to non-technical people? How likely would they be to understand something like that and, if so, how interesting/useful is that likely to be for their understanding?

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 25 '18 at 21:37

I think basic flow charts would work best here. If they are non-technical, they won't care what shapes or symbols you choose or be able to understand anything more than a general overview of the process. Anything related to UML would not be useful to them.

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 26 '18 at 05:23

UML diagrams are very technical in nature. They have been distilled from informal diagramming techniques such as flow charts and structure charts (neither of which is a UML diagram!) The purpose of a UML diagram is to capture requirements and operations in a precise and unambiguous way, which necessitates user-unfriendly technical terminology. I would surely avoid any pure UML in a non-technical presentation, with an exception perhaps of deployment diagrams - and even those could be diluted to look less technical.

Are UML component diagrams helpful to non-technical users?

2 Answers2