Dimensions of UML Diagram Use: A Survey of Practitioners

Abstract

The UML is an industry standard for object-oriented software engineering. However, there is little empirical evidence on how UML is used. This article reports results of a survey of UML practitioners. We found differences in several dimensions of UML diagram usage on software development projects including; frequency, the purposes for which they were used, and the roles of clients/users in their creation and approval. System developers are often ignoring the “use case-driven” prescription that permeates much of the UML literature, making limited or no use of either use case diagrams or textual use case descriptions. Implications and areas requiring further investigation are discussed.