TL;DR Yes but only the basics and only certain key diagram types
Of course it is! Now the verbose, overblown specs are only really useful for propping up your monitor (see http://www.omg.org/spec/) but fundamentally UML is all about a common way of discussing code, patterns, architectures and algorithms visually.
It's kinda handy to be able to sketch out something on a whiteboard and have everyone in the room be able to read what you have drawn.
[Showing my age] I was around before UML and there were any number of conflicting notations used to describe things... total chaos.
There are like 14 different types of UML diagrams which is complete overkill. You only really need to understand a few (at a high level) and you are sweet...
I mostly agree, but I would qualify this with saying you don't need to know exact UML. I wouldn't worry about filled in triangles vs. diamonds, just the big ideas.
Like everything enterprise, before it UML was wrapped in a three ring binder and sold by consultants it was created to solve a problem. That problem is; at the beginning of a project(or at cross-team-collaboration-bs-meetings) you'll have an idea in you head, a fist full of markers, and an empty whiteboard. How do you go about explaining that idea to everyone in the room? UML was an attempt at standardizing some of the boxes-with-lines schemes everyone invented.
Of course it is! Now the verbose, overblown specs are only really useful for propping up your monitor (see http://www.omg.org/spec/) but fundamentally UML is all about a common way of discussing code, patterns, architectures and algorithms visually.
It's kinda handy to be able to sketch out something on a whiteboard and have everyone in the room be able to read what you have drawn.
[Showing my age] I was around before UML and there were any number of conflicting notations used to describe things... total chaos.
There are like 14 different types of UML diagrams which is complete overkill. You only really need to understand a few (at a high level) and you are sweet...
Roughly in order of usefulness:
* Sequence diagrams
* Deployment diagrams
* Use case model
* State diagram
* Activity diagram
* Class diagram
See more http://creately.com/blog/diagrams/uml-diagram-types-examples...