Conway’s Law


Conway’s law originally comes from software development, but can be intuitively applied to many other product developments. It is based on the idea that interpersonal communication is necessary to define the interfaces between separate modules. Therefore, the communication structures of organizations have a major influence on the structure of these interfaces.

The inverse Conway maneuver

The inverse Conway manoeuvre uses this observation to suggest organizational structures.

“Technology change is driving changing customer preferences and behavior, which in turn are driving organizational change across increasingly software-driven enterprises. The causality question behind Conway’s Law, therefore, is less about how changing software organizations can lead to better software, but rather how companies can best leverage changing technology in order to transform their organizations,”

Bloomberg.

“organizations which radically change their system design should expect changes in communication structure”

Roy van Rijn

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