{"id":32571,"date":"2019-04-04T04:00:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?p=32571"},"modified":"2024-10-03T10:20:22","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T17:20:22","slug":"what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/","title":{"rendered":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

In 1967, computer scientist and programmer Melvin Conway coined the adage that carries his name: \u201cOrganizations that design systems are constrained to produce designs that are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, a system will tend to reflect the structure of the organization that designed it. Conway\u2019s law is based on the logic that effective, functional software requires frequent communication between stakeholders. Further, Conway\u2019s law assumes that the structure of a system will reflect the social boundaries and conditions of the organization that created it.<\/p>\n

One example of Conway\u2019s law in action, identified back in 1999 by UX expert Nigel Bevan<\/a>, is corporate website design: Companies tend to create websites with structure and content that mirror the company\u2019s<\/em> internal concerns \u2014 rather than speaking to the needs of the user.<\/p>\n

The widely accepted solution to Conway\u2019s law is to create smaller teams focused around single projects so they can iterate rapidly, delivering creative solutions and responding adroitly to changing customer needs. Like anything else, though, this approach has its drawbacks, and being aware of those downsides in advance can help you mitigate their impact.<\/p>\n

Here, we\u2019ll unpack the benefits of leveraging smaller teams; assess whether Conway\u2019s law holds up to scrutiny by researchers; and lay out how to balance the efficiency of small, independent teams against organizational cohesion and identity to build better products.<\/p>\n

Smaller Teams Can Yield Better Results<\/h2>\n

Plenty of leading tech companies, including Amazon and Netflix, are structured as multiple (relatively) small teams, each responsible for a small part of the overall organizational ecosystem. These teams own the whole lifecycle of their product, system, or service, giving them much more autonomy than bigger teams with rigid codebases. Multiple smaller teams allow your organization to experiment with best practices and respond to change faster and more efficiently, while ossified, inflexible systems are slow to adapt to meet evolving business needs.<\/p>\n

When your organization structure and your software aren\u2019t in alignment, tensions and miscommunication are rife. If this is your situation, look for ways to break up monolithic systems by business function to allow for more fine-grained communication between stakeholders throughout the development lifecycle.<\/p>\n

Testing Conway\u2019s Law<\/h2>\n

In 1967, the Harvard Business Review <\/em>rejected Conway\u2019s original paper<\/a>, saying he hadn\u2019t proved his thesis. Nevertheless, software developers eventually came to accept Conway\u2019s law because it was true to their experiences, and by 2008, a team of researchers at MIT and\u00a0Harvard Business School had begun analyzing different codebases to see if they could prove the hypothesis.<\/p>\n

For this study<\/a>, researchers took multiple examples of software created to serve the same purpose (for example, word processing or financial management). Codebases created by open-source teams were compared with those crafted by more tightly coupled teams. The study found \u201cstrong evidence\u201d to support Conway\u2019s law, concluding that \u201cdistributed teams tend to develop more modular products.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, there\u2019s definitely some justification for the idea that smaller teams will work more effectively and produce better results, while bigger groups may lack cohesion and exhibit dysfunction.<\/p>\n

Organization First, Team Second<\/h2>\n

As a recent Forbes<\/em> article<\/a> noted, there are potential drawbacks to letting Conway\u2019s law guide the structure of your organization. The thinking goes that \u201conce you entrench small teams in this way, their respect and loyalty for that team often comes to outweigh their allegiance to the organization as a whole\u2026 Teams in disparate locations end up forming strong but exclusive identities as individual departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

So how do you balance the benefits of small, nimble groups against an organization-wide sense of solidarity, cooperation, and transparency?<\/p>\n

Platforms that enable organization-wide collaboration can break down the barriers erected by Conway\u2019s law without robbing small teams of their independence and agility. Josh McKenty<\/a>, a vice president at Pivotal<\/a>, argues that using collaborative platforms can neutralize the sense of otherness, of separateness, that can inhibit organization-wide cohesion: \u201cPlatforms can allow businesses to cultivate a sense of \u2018we\u2019re all in this together,\u2019 in which everyone is respected, treated with mutual regard, and can clean up each other\u2019s messes \u2013 regardless of whether\u00a0they created\u00a0the mess in the first place,\u201d McKenty told a conference audience in 2017, according to Forbes<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

That solidarity is crucial in complex product and systems development, where rapidly shifting requirements, evolving standards, and updated customer specs require consistent and dedicated communication within and across teams. If your teams are forming strong bonds, that\u2019s terrific, but you don\u2019t want those bonds to become exclusionary. If teams are turning into cliques, your organization has lost its internal cohesion.<\/p>\n

A collaborative platform that unites disparate teams across functions and locations can help you actualize the benefits of small, focused teams without losing coherence.<\/p>\n

To learn more about success strategies for systems engineers and developers, check out our whitepaper, \u201cProduct Development Strategies for Systems Engineers<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1967, computer scientist and programmer Melvin Conway put forward the idea that a system will tend to reflect the structure of the organization that designed it. Conway’s law has shaped software development practices ever since. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":45327,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,436,437,16,31],"industry":[1037],"class_list":["post-32571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-bestof2019","tag-conways-law","tag-design","tag-software-development","tag-systems-engineering","industry-software-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law? - Jama Software<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As products and systems get more complex, Conway\u2019s law has plenty to teach development teams.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jama Software\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-04T11:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-10-03T17:20:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eira Long May\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"As products and systems get more complex, Conway\u2019s law has plenty to teach development teams.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eira Long May\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eira Long May\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b48c744f5b024a0e8133d36abc26071d\"},\"headline\":\"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-04T11:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-03T17:20:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":823,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/Conways-law.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Best Jama Blog Posts of 2019\",\"Conway's law\",\"design\",\"software development\",\"systems engineering\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Other\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/\",\"name\":\"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law? - Jama Software\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/Conways-law.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-04T11:00:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-10-03T17:20:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b48c744f5b024a0e8133d36abc26071d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/Conways-law.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/media\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/Conways-law.png\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":512},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/04\\\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jama Software\",\"description\":\"Jama Connect\u00ae #1 in Requirements Management\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b48c744f5b024a0e8133d36abc26071d\",\"name\":\"Eira Long May\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5682404f466153a1f4756f38489ca8a5f324b27538f56714f664e11c67abd3be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5682404f466153a1f4756f38489ca8a5f324b27538f56714f664e11c67abd3be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5682404f466153a1f4756f38489ca8a5f324b27538f56714f664e11c67abd3be?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eira Long May\"},\"description\":\"Eira Long May writes about compliance and regulation, requirements management, test management, risk management, and best practices for complex product and software development.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.jamasoftware.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/elong\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law? - Jama Software","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?","og_description":"As products and systems get more complex, Conway\u2019s law has plenty to teach development teams.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/","og_site_name":"Jama Software","article_published_time":"2019-04-04T11:00:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-10-03T17:20:22+00:00","author":"Eira Long May","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?","twitter_description":"As products and systems get more complex, Conway\u2019s law has plenty to teach development teams.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eira Long May","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/"},"author":{"name":"Eira Long May","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b48c744f5b024a0e8133d36abc26071d"},"headline":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?","datePublished":"2019-04-04T11:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-03T17:20:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/"},"wordCount":823,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2019\/04\/Conways-law.png","keywords":["Best Jama Blog Posts of 2019","Conway's law","design","software development","systems engineering"],"articleSection":["Other"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/","name":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law? - Jama Software","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2019\/04\/Conways-law.png","datePublished":"2019-04-04T11:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-10-03T17:20:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b48c744f5b024a0e8133d36abc26071d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2019\/04\/Conways-law.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/media\/2019\/04\/Conways-law.png","width":1024,"height":512},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/04\/what-can-development-teams-learn-from-conways-law\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Can Development Teams Learn from Conway\u2019s Law?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/","name":"Jama Software","description":"Jama Connect\u00ae #1 in Requirements Management","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b48c744f5b024a0e8133d36abc26071d","name":"Eira Long May","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5682404f466153a1f4756f38489ca8a5f324b27538f56714f664e11c67abd3be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5682404f466153a1f4756f38489ca8a5f324b27538f56714f664e11c67abd3be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5682404f466153a1f4756f38489ca8a5f324b27538f56714f664e11c67abd3be?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eira Long May"},"description":"Eira Long May writes about compliance and regulation, requirements management, test management, risk management, and best practices for complex product and software development.","url":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/blog\/author\/elong\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/110"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32571"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jamasoftware.com\/legacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=32571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}