How important is a good modeling tool toward system design

Question

While a quick wiki/google flood me with numerous uml freeware, most of them doesn't meet my expectation (limited to "drawing" level instead of "modeling"). I know sparx's EA and IBM rational rose offers complete design-to-implementation toolkits but they are out of my budget :(

Would if be significantly different if I were to sketch using paper and pencil ?
Assume i know the full specification of UML, and aim to use it for

• Documentation
• Idea(s) communication between team members
• Design validation

Answer 1

Depends what you mean by "design validation". If it's for human consumption only - i.e. you're not looking to generate or reverse engineer code - then you don't need the cost/expense/complexity of a "modelling" tool. In fact, depending on your circumstances, a white board / sheet of paper may well be your best bet. There's nothing quite so communicative as drawing up a picture as you collaboratively talk through a problem and its solution with fellow team members.

If you do need to record electronically there's obviously visio. But if you're looking for no cost and/or non-windows then take a look at yEd.

Answer 2

A good company shall use their money to buy you best tool in order to maximize your productivity. See rule 9 of The Joel Test

Honestly speaking, most of the time, I would think Marker Pen and White Board will be the best tool to communicate your idea between team members.

Answer 3

There are many solutions, which allow code generation from models, which are free. Look for example at the Topcased project.

As said above, except from the validation part (if it is validation method which can be or already is automated), you really do not need any tools at all. However tools still can bring you advantage. Generally speaking, there are many tools which are not that good (e.g. support for all UML elements), so you should check if a tool fits your needs, if you cannot find one, use pencil and paper.