Behind the scenes: How the draw.io Team uses draw.io

Practice what we preach

At draw.io, we practice what we preach: we don’t say how great it is – we actively use the tool in our day-to-day work.

In this blogpost, we’ll take a sneak peek into how some of the members of Team draw.io visualize in draw.io!

Feeling inspired, and want to try these diagrams for yourself? Links to the .xml file templates can be found below!

Kevin

I use this Project Planner to map out major marketing and web design projects across the year. Each month has virtual sticky notes with important campaigns, website updates, or other major projects. It helps me visualize workload and coordinate with our content team.

Two features I love using:

• Multipage diagramming: Keeps my main board uncluttered by letting me create sub-pages for a more detailed look at a specific project flow.
• Custom shape styles: Lets me define consistent colors, borders, and fonts for recurring types ( campaigns, high-priority projects, etc).

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

Desi

I visualized all our processes for tasks and projects that we do on a regular basis. Each color represents a phase and each shape represents a task within that phase. This helps me quickly identify which phases run in parallel, and which ones depend on each other.

This then gives me a better idea of the overall scope and each step of the creation process, to see what needs to be done when and by whom, so that we’re all aligned as a team on those interdisciplinary team projects.

What I personally really like is the aesthetic of the draw.io Board editor, as well as the sticky note shape.

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

Charis and Desi

We work closely together when it comes to all kinds of planning and brainstorming around social media.

For example, we worked together on this mind map. The green shapes represented content we were already doing, and the white shapes were content we weren’t focusing on. This helped us get a good idea of opportunities to see what more we could do with social media content in future.

Using draw.io in Confluence Cloud means we can collaborate on our diagrams in real time during our regular coworking sessions!

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

Basti

As the Subject Matter Expert on the team, I’m often confronted with challenging tasks. So when I use draw.io, I like to go beyond the typical draw.io usage and push diagramming barriers.

90% of what I do is training people on common use cases such as flowcharts, etc. – this is where draw.io really shines as “The one tool for every team”. But it’s also part of my job to be “confronted” with and help solve requests from customers that are more challenging in nature.

This train station example is precious to me because nobody would ever think of doing that in draw.io… but you can do it perfectly! This took me about three hours to build.

As this is a specialized use case, below we’ve provided an interactive floor plan using the Layers feature with custom links and toggles. Find out how to customize this diagram for your own needs in this blogpost.

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

Emily

I use an Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize my tasks. I’ve added two additional sections: Blocked/ On hold, as well as a “Done” column so I can see all the things I’ve ticked off!

Two features I use regularly are:

• Adding custom links to shapes: I add Jira ticket links to each shape so I can quickly locate these as I work on a task.
• The shortcut Cmd+D (Mac) to duplicate the sticky note shape.

1. Open Confluence.
2. Open draw.io (blank diagram).
3. Drag & drop your XML file into your blank drawing area.
4. Use it as a custom template if you like.

Want to dive deeper into the world of draw.io? Access our linktr.ee page to follow us on social media and learn how others use draw.io, as well as pick up some helpful tips and tricks.