# Conway's Law  ## Metadata - Author: [[Martin Fowler]] - Full Title: Conway's Law - Category: #articles - Summary: Conway's Law says that software design mirrors the communication structure of the team that builds it. If teams are separated or organized poorly, the software can become complicated and hard to maintain. To build better systems, companies should organize teams to match the desired software architecture, a strategy called the Inverse Conway Maneuver. - URL: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ConwaysLaw.html ## Highlights - Pretty much all the practitioners I favor in Software Architecture are deeply suspicious of any kind of general law in the field. Good software architecture is very context-specific, analyzing trade-offs that resolve differently across a wide range of environments. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kw5a16gx0vm8zg9bv7h8sc7n)) - Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure. -- [Melvin Conway](https://www.melconway.com/Home/Conways_Law.html) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kw5a3xvb8gnynh64pqya9yf1)) - This example recognized the big impact location has on human communication. Putting teams on separate floors of the same building is enough to significantly reduce communication. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kw5a76esvskrmza72e677a4e))