Why are we still talking about Conway's Law?
Conway's Law was proposed by Melvin Conway back in 1968 in his paper "How Do Committees Invent?". Essentially, he observed that an organization's structure would directly impact the software produced. If the organization was structured into silos or departments, the software would also be divided into distinct parts.
This also means that when teams are not able to collaborate effectively across departments or hierarchical structures, they may struggle to create coherent, low coupled software. This is because they lack the ability to connect different points of view, which can lead to inefficient solutions, and struggles in addressing the most critical challenges. If left unchecked, this can have a detrimental effect on value-creation, flow, and agility within an organization.
Make your Organization Community-Driven
Conway's Law states that "organizations are shaped by the communication structures within them". In the digital age, this means that organizations are shaped by the way they share information and collaborate. An open-source culture is one where information is shared freely and openly, and collaboration is encouraged. This type of culture enables organizations to source many ideas, adapt quickly to changes in the market, and respond to feedback.
Open-source cultures promote experimentation and innovation. When everyone is encouraged to experiment without fear of failure or judgment, new ideas can be tested quickly.
This enables teams to share knowledge more freely while also allowing them to benefit from each other's skill sets. Furthermore, implementing open-source practices in an organization encourages innovation by enabling teams to work together on products outside their normal scope of work. This helps foster a culture where creativity is encouraged, and new ideas are embraced instead of discouraged.
Such a culture allows teams to rapidly iterate on ideas until they find something that works well for their users—without having to worry about time wasted or resources spent on discarded initiatives.
Rapid experimentation is the holy grail of business agility in a volatile world. Success does not come from one great idea, but fast iteration on many good ones.
Apply the Inverse Conway Maneuver
The Inverse Conway Maneuver is a concept proposed by Dan North, James Lewis, and others, back in 2006 which states that "architecture should follow organization."
The Inverse Conway Maneuver is a very real thing that we often discuss in sociotechnical architecture. However, there is also a behavioral component to it that has to do with not just how software is designed and built but also how our organization is intrinsically set up for collaboration and feedback.
As technology changes rapidly, fostering a culture of open collaboration and early feedback becomes increasingly essential. This enables the organization to keep up with the pace of change without adding additional layers of complexity or bureaucracy.
And this is the other half of the Inverse Conway Maneuver: Embed, in the heart of your operating model, crowd-sourced innovation through an open collaboration model, incentives, and communication structures to foster a co-creation environment that will ultimately produce better software, happier users, and more value.
To achieve this, you should provide open access to data and resources, incentivize cross-organizational collaboration, and encourage open feedback loops. By doing so, teams can work closely together to create products that are well-designed, quickly iterated, and born from feedback.
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