Recently, I had a few questions on database modeling. One was posted in the SQL Server Central forums, and a customer asked about ERD tooling on the same day. This came shortly after Redgate acquired Vertabelo (now Redgate Data Modeler). This stood out to me as very rarely in the last few years have I found people consulting and updating a diagram while performing database development.

When I started as a developer and needed to update a database, I had to first update a diagram that was stored in ErWin. We had a dedicated computer (back when we went to an office every day) where the software was run and any developer could us this to update the diagram with proposed changes. Back then, we had to get another peer to sign off on changes before making them, and the peer was supposed to go check the diagram for the change before approving it. That's only if they thought your change made sense and conformed to our standards (naming, design, etc.).

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