Skip to main content

Conway’s Law

Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure.

— Melvin E. Conway

Conway’s Law states that organizations build and design systems that mirror the already-present organizational layout. If you have four teams working on a compiler, you’re likely to get a four-pass compiler.

The Reverse Conway Maneuver is to structure your organization to match how you want your system to be structured. As an example, if you want a four-pass compiler, then your team should be broken down into four groups.

Reference​