How to quickly learn the Archimate modeling language?
Author of the article: Maxim Rogoza
I have been using Archimate in my work for more than 7 years. When I became acquainted with this language, it attracted me because it allowed me to depict the system in dynamics, that is, to display not only the structure of the program, but also the business processes that it automates and the tools on which it is deployed. In addition, Archimate seemed very simple – just think, some 10 arrows and 20 components. At that time, I was already a very experienced programmer and architect, I had extensive experience in designing systems and databases, and I also mastered several programming languages at a decent level. And it seemed that learning such a simple language would take a few hours.
But how wrong I was: I began to get decent Archimate models only after 3 months, and a year later I realized that everything I had drawn before would be good to redraw (to be fair, it was still perfectionism). But why is Archimate not so easy to master?
Somewhat later, when I myself began to teach other people the Achimeit language, I realized that almost everyone who begins to immerse themselves in this language faces this problem. Experienced developers easily remember all the elements of the language, but as soon as it comes to modeling, problems begin. People. Those familiar with UML depict static architectural diagrams—similar to UML component diagrams. Specialists who are familiar with BPML or other notations for describing business processes draw good diagrams that describe business processes. But at first, no one succeeds in combining everything into a single model, as the creators of Archimate intended.
I was able to understand what the reason was due to the fact that at that time I was interested in studying the Norwegian language, and in the process of studying I was able to find some parallels. And indeed, Archimate is a language, that is, a complex sign system that correlates conceptual content and typical sound (spelling). In a word, the same language as those that people use to write. But learning any language is not only about learning words and grammatical rules. To learn a language, practice is a must. With the help of practice, the brain learns to use language constructs to describe thoughts and images that exist in a person in the form of a certain mental representation. It is impossible to translate text from one language to another simply by substituting the words of one language for the words of another. Even rearranging the phrase to fit new grammatical structures will not be enough. To translate a text well from one language to another, you need to read the phrase, understand it, and then construct a new one using language constructs of the second language. Exactly for the same reason, people familiar with some modeling language cannot immediately start fully modeling on Archimate. Archmate may use similar components and connections, but the structure of the language is different and the models are different.
It took me 3 months to study Archimate to the level where I could draw models passably. Of course, I could draw some things much earlier, but it was precisely the complex models that began to be produced in such a period of time. By the way, I was able to master Norwegian at a basic level in the same amount of time, so the processes of learning a new language are approximately the same. I studied both languages completely on my own – that is, I drew, or spoke, then watched/listened, corrected, then drew again, and so on, until it started to work out well. Subsequently, I had to teach Archimate to other people and in building training I began to use the same approach – the main emphasis on practice and analysis of errors.
In my experience, studying in a group with a teacher and lots of practice makes language learning much more effective. For example, in my course that I teach at OTUS, students with minimal experience master Archimate in 2 months. Working in a group and jointly analyzing mistakes helps a lot, when students see not only their own mistakes, but also the mistakes of their friends. All this allows you to learn the language more effectively.
By the way, at the beginning of each course I have moments when students start asking to show serious models or complain that I show simple “synthetic” diagrams as an example. They think it's not serious. But everyone starts learning foreign languages with phrases like My name is Vasya, and not with reading Shakespeare’s poems. At the beginning of learning, the brain is not able to perceive complex language structures – yes, they can be memorized, but there will be no understanding, and there will be no opportunity to build something of their own based on them. Therefore, the correct approach to learning any language (including Archimate) is learning from simple to complex and necessarily practice, preferably in a group (analogous to immersion in a language environment). Then learning becomes easy and effective.
In conclusion, I would like to give this advice: if you decide to master Archimet on your own, don’t hope that you will do it quickly, don’t try to search for diagrams on the Internet and copy them – it’s much better to start slowly modeling some simple things, and then independently and critically disassemble what happened. If you have the opportunity to turn to a colleague or friend who is familiar with the language, you can show your models to receive feedback and thus, gradually increasing complexity, you will definitely master modeling. Especially if you already have experience using other architectural languages. If you have the opportunity to study in a group, then learning will be much easier and faster for you. If time and funds allow, do not deny yourself this opportunity – this way you will spend much less of your time, and the result will undoubtedly be better.
The first steps can be taken by attending the open lesson “Description of implementation and implementation in the Archimate language.” Here we will study the purpose of the implementation and implementation layer, its purpose and practice of application. You can sign up link.
