Conway's Law & Team Structure
Understand how organizational communication structures influence system architecture and design effective team topologies for SaaS.
What is Conway's Law?
Have you ever noticed how software often looks like the organization that built it? That's the essence of Conway's Law!
Coined by Melvin Conway in 1968, it states that organizations design systems that mirror their own communication structures.
It's a powerful idea for understanding why certain architectures emerge in SaaS companies.
Communication Shapes Design
Imagine a company with two separate teams: one for the front-end and one for the back-end. What kind of system will they build?
- A front-end team communicates primarily with the back-end team.
- The resulting software will likely have a strong, distinct boundary between front-end and back-end.
- This often leads to a client-server architecture, reflecting the two teams.
The system's interfaces mirror the communication interfaces between teams.
All lessons in this course
- Conway's Law & Team Structure
- Product-Led Growth Strategies
- Technical Debt Management
- Hiring & Onboarding Engineers at Scale