Universal Principles of Design, Updated and Expanded Third Edition
by William Lidwell, Kritina Holden, Jill Butler
040 Conway’s Law
The structure of an organization is expressed in the design of the things it produces.
Conway’s law, proposed by the computer scientist Melvin Conway, states that products and services mimic the structure of the teams that create them. For example, a product designed by a single team will look like a product designed by a single team, whereas a product designed by multiple teams will look like a product with modules designed by different teams.1
A key aspect of Conway’s law is the notion of a communication structure. A communication structure refers to a group within an organization that communicates and operates as a logical unit, usually through a team lead or manager. For example, ten people working together on a project ...
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