I've been working with the Azure Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF) and the Azure Well-Architected Framework (WAF) quite a bit recently - and while the content is excellent and comprehensive, I found it hard to navigate quickly or explain clearly in practice.

I'm a visual learner. The sheer volume of documentation can feel overwhelming, and I needed a better way to understand the structure, flow, and relationships between the key parts. So I built a couple of interactive mind maps using a tool called Markmap. They’ve helped me get to grips with the frameworks more easily, and I’m sharing them here in case they help others too.

Let’s take a look:

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Azure CAF

This project visualises the structure of the Cloud Adoption Framework in a single, explorable map. From strategy and planning to governance and management, the layout is designed to help you grasp how the different stages fit together.

📦 GitHub Repository
🗺 Launch Interactive Map

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Azure WAF

The WAF map breaks down the five pillars of the Well-Architected Framework, along with key principles and design considerations. It’s a handy way to refer to the framework during architecture sessions or to anchor discussions around best practices.

📦 GitHub Repository
🗺 Launch Interactive Map

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Why and How

I built these maps because I learn best when I can see how things connect.

Working through long-form documentation is necessary - but sometimes, especially when preparing for reviews or walking through a framework with a team, I need a more structured, visual approach. That’s where Markmap comes in.

Markmap turns Markdown into an interactive mind map. It’s:

• Lightweight and open source

• Easy to maintain in GitHub

• Perfect for creating skimmable, navigable versions of dense content

Each map starts with a plain Markdown file, structured using bullet points. Markmap does the rest.

If you're a visual thinker, or just looking for a more approachable way to engage with CAF and WAF, these tools might be helpful.

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Both projects are open source and available to fork, adapt, or build upon. Feedback and contributions welcome.

Thanks for checking them out.

Dan