The Diagram Nobody Asked For

I drew an architecture diagram for a system with four components. It somehow needed three revisions.

build-logarchitecturedocumentation2026.07.12

The possum, in its building state — STATUSBUILDING

CONTEXT MAP

What the diagram is actually trying to say

User

API Gateway

Service A

Queue

Worker

Results

The exact implementation can change. The useful part is making the dependency chain visible enough to reason about.

ANNOTATION

text

The useful contract

request path: user -> gateway -> service
work path:    service -> queue -> worker
result path:  worker -> results

The queue is the handoff point.
That is where slow work stops blocking the request.

A diagram earns its keep when it makes one decision easier to name.

Four boxes. Three arrows. It took three revisions because I kept drawing the system I wanted to have instead of the one that existed.

The final version is uglier and more honest. That's usually the correct trade.