Using SDD Today
The current SDD tools rely on the command line, LLM prompting, and on handling a GitHub repo. Not many people combine those technical skills and product design / product management skills.
But many of us, including designers and product managers, have been learning to use LLMs and command line tools like Claude Code, encountering formats like Markdown and Mermaid. With this experience, the gap to learning SDD is small.
SDDs are made by prompting the SDD skill with an LLM, or by manually writing a document in a text editor. Diagrams are created by rendering them, using the command line, or using the LLM skill.
When we accept that working with SDD takes some technical skill and manual steps, SDD does unlock some actual practical value.
Resources
Diagram Types …an overview
Nodes and Edges per Diagram Type …details
SDD Command Line Tools …to generate diagrams
Using Profiles …probably stick with simple
SDD-Skill …for working with LLMs