These all seem like bloated ways to perform a simple function: communicating an idea (software architecture) to an intended audience (usually software developer

These all seem like bloated ways to perform a simple function: communicating an idea (software architecture) to an intended audience (usually software developers). What irks me about this article the most is that it goes into documentation frameworks while skipping the fundamentals such as written exposition. There is more I could say about this, but I always take the approach of minimising cognitive load on the reader by using diagrams with minimal conventions (and any not immediately obvious is explained) with an accompanying explanation. And usually a written exposition at varying levels of the architecture. I wouldn't describe implementation details (code structure) unless it has some relevance to the architecture such as a plugin system, but even then - I would relegate the implementation details to a separate document divorced from the architecture.