Making technical work clear for everyone

Why Excalidraw?

High-level payment processes, detailed system architectures, software integration strategies − technical concepts are a key part of daily work at ILF. But so are meetings, presentations, conferences, and collaboration with community contributors and members of financial institutions who aren't always familiar with software engineering.

For a long time, Mermaid has been the primary tool for internal tasks in the tech team. But while it works for devs, it's too specialized for others.

"We use Mermaid a lot. But we also needed something we could use across all teams and our community. A simple tool to share technical knowledge with non-technical people," explains Max Kurapov, engineering manager at ILF.

The team found what they were looking for in Excalidraw − and stayed for good.

New projects usually start with a rough sketch on a shared Excalidraw canvas, where the team bounces ideas about system architecture or payment flows. The whiteboard is a single place everyone can return to and collaborate. The editor is simple, so anyone can contribute.

The ability to work asynchronously is particularly important for ILF as a remote-first organization. "I don't have to worry. I can just start making a diagram, and if somebody wants to look at it, they know where to find it when they have the time," says Max.

These brainstorming sketches often turn into valuable technical assets. They're included in documentation, committed to GitHub repositories, or shared in presentations at conferences and meetings with stakeholders outside ILF.

Custom design language

But how do you get from rough drawings to clear, refined designs?

For ILF, the answer is their own design language − custom components saved as an Excalidraw library.

"My team creates a lot of external content and presentations, so at one point we thought it would make sense to standardize our visuals," explains Max. "We just started with one Excalidraw library, and from there people started adding the components to their personal collections."

A unified, color-coded set of objects helps keep visuals consistent, clear, and easy to share between remote teams, community, and partners.

All components are readily available in Excalidraw, so everyone can quickly create diagrams and instantly add them to documentation, GitHub, and presentations. Minimal editing, full clarity.

In Max's own words, "A defined design language is very helpful for getting started with a project. Instead of having to worry about the size of the components, font changes, or tinkering with colors, I can focus entirely on mapping out the concepts I want to convey, knowing the final result will be ready to share."

Onboarding

"Excalidraw is also one of the first tools I reach for during onboarding sessions," adds Max.

When a new hire joins the tech team, the introduction starts with an empty whiteboard. During a meeting, a senior colleague draws diagrams, gradually adding complexity and answering questions to explain concepts or architecture at an accessible pace.

At the end of the session, the new team member has a visual overview of the system or process, built up piece-by-piece without having to go through tons of documentation on their first day.

"We could just share a bunch of repositories and documentation with new colleagues, but that would get overwhelming pretty fast. Instead, they get a person who can just sit down with them and start from a blank canvas, dragging boxes around. I think that building together is just a nicer way to do it," explains Max.