Architecture is, literally, the blueprint that was used to build the building. But the blueprint is not the building. The building deviates from the blueprint, either by accident or by necessity.
Likewise, code is just the blueprint of the system. It is not the system. The system operates in its own unique fashion, and is often changing, even when the code isn't.
Therefore, things like Distributed Tracing and other Observability/Telemetry techniques can tell you a great deal more about what the system actually looks like as it exists in the world, not just on paper. This real world look at the system will help you reason about how it actually works.
But architectural diagrams are still necessary to plan work you haven't done yet. I really love the idea of asking everyone to draw their own diagram, because all those perspectives are valid, and you'll always find things that other people forgot about. Doesn't matter whether you make this drawing out of code or on a napkin. Do whatever best captures the work needed and gets you to the building phase with everything you need.
In actual building construction they have as-built plans, which are the blueprints made after the fact which should correspond to how the building was actually built.
I think it would be a good engineering practice to have the same in SW.
Likewise, code is just the blueprint of the system. It is not the system. The system operates in its own unique fashion, and is often changing, even when the code isn't.
Therefore, things like Distributed Tracing and other Observability/Telemetry techniques can tell you a great deal more about what the system actually looks like as it exists in the world, not just on paper. This real world look at the system will help you reason about how it actually works.
But architectural diagrams are still necessary to plan work you haven't done yet. I really love the idea of asking everyone to draw their own diagram, because all those perspectives are valid, and you'll always find things that other people forgot about. Doesn't matter whether you make this drawing out of code or on a napkin. Do whatever best captures the work needed and gets you to the building phase with everything you need.