A typical week for a solution architect working with fast-moving product teams looks something like this:

You wrap up the design for a new feature. A clean, well-structured deployment diagram is ready. You’ve walked everyone through the VPC layout, the database layer, the compute clusters, and failover zones. The architecture review ends with nods all around.

Then comes the part everyone silently braces for  the handoff to DevOps.

The diagram gets exported. A message goes out on Slack.

“Can someone from DevOps pick this up? We need Terraform by end of week.”

From there, things start to slow down.

Where Time Slips Away

This isn't about skill. The DevOps team is sharp. But interpreting diagrams is never straightforward. Every visual element in the architecture, every node, arrow, and label, requires assumptions. And those assumptions must be validated.

Questions trickle in.

“Which subnet tier should the database live in?”
“Can we reuse the existing load balancer or spin up a new one?”
“Did you mean an internal gateway or an internet-facing one?”

Even for routine setups, translating a visual diagram into Terraform involves hours of writing, context-checking, and review cycles.

The infrastructure doesn't arrive broken. It just arrives slowly.

The Workflow That Changed Everything

Things shifted when this team adopted Codespell’s Design to Code.

Instead of sending the diagram to another team and hoping the intent carried over, they uploaded it directly into Design to Code. The platform parsed the layout, recognized the components, and generated Terraform scripts that were not just usable but deployable.

Here’s a glimpse of what Design to Code output from a recent diagram:

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resource "aws_lb" "app_lb" {

 name               = "app-load-balancer"

 internal           = false

 load_balancer_type = "application"

 subnets            = module.app_vpc.public_subnets

 security_groups    = [aws_security_group.lb_sg.id]

}

‍

No filler code. No misalignment. The generated script matched internal standards and naming conventions. It dropped straight into version control.

What It Feels Like Now

The biggest difference wasn’t just in how quickly Terraform became available. It was in how the team collaborated.

Architecture reviews no longer marked a pause in momentum. Developers didn’t need to wait several days before they could test infra. The DevOps team wasn’t stuck translating visuals into code under time pressure. Instead, they focused on reviewing what was generated and fine-tuning for performance, cost, and compliance.

Everyone’s time was better used. The energy shifted from follow-ups and fixes to improvements and iteration.

Reviews Without the Drag

The team still runs architecture reviews. They still design carefully. But they no longer feel like they’re stalling the sprint. There’s clarity, speed, and confidence in what comes next.

Because the moment the design is final, the infrastructure is already in motion.

And that has changed how they work. Not just in delivery time, but in team rhythm and morale. What used to be a gap is now a gateway.

They no longer brace for delays. They upload and deploy.