Visio built the standard but collaboration and speed moved on.

Microsoft Visio was long the go-to tool for architecture diagrams. I invested significant time creating stencils of my most frequently used icons and logos, which became a standard adopted by colleagues. For me, one of Visio’s key strengths was the ability to define and distribute standards through reusable templates and shareable stencils. Over time, however, it became increasingly difficult to ensure everyone had the appropriate licensing, and even more challenging to maintain consistent usage across the organization. In addition, while Visio can produce very clean diagrams, it can be somewhat finicky; the quality of the final output is often directly proportional to the time and attention the author invests. Visio also isn’t well-suited to “live” diagramming during meetings and offers limited support for real-time collaboration. This summary reflects my personal opinion only and does not represent my company's views.