On UML and whiteboarding [closed]

Question

I try to produce correct UML when we have our design/whiteboarding sessions but my attempt at well structured UML ALWAYS degrades into uml-looking-but-understandable-to-those-in-the-room-with-a-little-explanation. But is this good enough for the consummate engineer? Do you always produce well-structured UML in your whiteboard sessions? What advise do you have for the developer who might not think it that important lest he sees it in a design pattern book and have no idea wtf is going on.

Answer 1

I never use UML in my design sessions. It's always free-form. Then, depending on the project, we circle back and convert that into much more structured UML design when creating the "final" spec docs that we developers will code from. It's been my experience that it tends to hinder design sessions to much to focus on proper form, especially when half or more of the people in the room have no idea what any of the diagramming means.