Conway's Law

1. YOU MAY NOT KNOW
MELVIN CONWAY,
BUT HE KNOWS YOU
Marc Massar
SVP, Product Strategy, Innovation, Experience, Standards

2. A brief
history and
introduction
to the basics
of Conway’s
Law
• MelvinConway published “How do Committees Invent”
in 1968 in Datamation (written and submitted to HBR
in 1967)
• The original premise of the paper was to describe
software and systems design choices and help people
understand those choices
• The thesis…
– “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly)
will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the
organization's communication structure.”
• Conway’s Law – the name – started showing up here
and there, but Fred Brooks’ work “The Mythical Man-
Month” used the term and it gained broad use
• Referenced in a number of software books/treatises
• Has broader applications – government, access to
markets, poverty, education, health care, etc.

3. WE’VE ALL
SEEN THIS
BEFORE 
THINK
ABOUT
ZAPPOS AND
VALVE

4. Conway’s
Law is an
observation
first and
foremost
• Some assumptions over the years about Conway’s Law
have led people to misleading conclusions
– Small teams are better…
– Big teams are bad…
– Org structure trumps all…
• In fact, none of these are precisely true
• The structure, ways of work, outputs, goals,
psychology, accountability, politics, etc. are all
interrelated and some can disrupt or shift your
perception

5. HUMANS ARE
NOT PERFECT
AND
RELATIONSHIPS
HAVE IMPACT

6. The Lines Of
Communication
Your Ways of
Work

7. Other “Laws”
• Little’s Law – Length of queue (WIP) =Arrival/Departure rate*Lead time(time in system)
– Little and Conway are powerful allies
• McKenty’s Postulate – Platforms have penetrated small-team barrier limits of the past
• Reverse Conway Manoeuvre – Use the structure and ways of work to determine outcomes
– Optimise for speed, cost, quality

8. The Reverse
Conway
Manoeuvre
Focus on
Outcomes!
• Outcome-driven organisation design is more desirable
than arbitrary organisation design
• What outcomes do you want to focus on?
• What architectures are desirable to achieve the
organisation’s goals?
• Who determines the organisation’s goals?
• How to manage autonomy versus alignment?

11. ORGANIZE AROUND
VALUE DELIVERED
TO CUSTOMER