Writing is a tool of thinking. Drawing lines and boxes is a form of efficient writing in 2D with a different vocabulary. UML makes this vocabulary more efficient.

UML got a bad reputation, but this is because how it was enforced. The idea is quite nice. For many problems one dimensional text is not enough, two dimensional diagrams are better. But if everyone does ad hoc drawings, everyone speaks his own dialect and everything needs to be defined all the time either using words or context. A breeding ground of miscommunication. The idea is simple: We use the same few token again and again. Let’s agree that we use the same symbol/pattern for the same token. This compresses the two dimensional language by defining a shared vocabulary and makes communication efficient and less error-prone.

As with any standard, this nice idea was taken too far and enforced dogmatically. It was used as a formal language rather than an informal one! The idea itself is still good. Let’s be pragmatic about it. Learn the vocabulary of UML and use it where it fits while scribbling your own ideas. Don’t force others to do so, don’t enforce any rules and be pragmatic. Thinking faster and better and communicating with your future self is the goal. Take whatever it takes to improve that - and reusing the UML vocab is surely a good candidate for that.