Conway’s Law as Organizational Design Principle

“Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.” — Conway’s Law

Conway’s Law isn’t just a clever observation—it’s the most predictive mental model I’ve found for understanding why software architectures look the way they do.

Ruth Malan’s modern interpretation cuts even deeper: “If the architecture of the system and the architecture of the organization are at odds, the architecture of the organization wins.”

This makes your org chart the single most important architectural document in your company. Not technical diagrams. Not API specifications. The org chart.

When I see systems that resist change, I now look first at team boundaries. When planning new capabilities, I design team structures before architectures. The homomorphic force is real—your communication patterns become your software patterns whether you intend it or not.

Most fight Conway’s Law instead of designing with it. What if, instead of fighting gravity, we build wings?

Quote is from Team Topologies