Conway's Laws isn't a law, it's just an interesting thought experiment. Organization and architecture bidirectionally effect each other, but not directly, and not completely. I hate how current discourse invokes these different "Laws" as if they are physical properties of the universe. I've worked at places with a strong, hierarchical organization that created a wonderful set of "micro" services, and I've worked at places with a chaotic environment that developed monoliths.
There are shitty hierarchies and shitty flat organizations, just like there are shitty monoliths and shitty microservices.
Sorry if you actually agree with this more nuanced view, it's just that I've seen Conway's "Law" invoked more than once in this discussion and it drives me bonkers. I get the same way when someone ("Medium Developers" I call them, more than green but less than seasoned who swallow everything the read on Medium as gospel and run around quoting it zealously) quoted liskov substitution principle at me as if it was one of Newton's Laws.
Conway's Law is a physical law in the same sense as Murphy's Law.
It's also obviously true. The organization builds the architecture. The architecture either helps or hinders the organization. The organization builds a new architecture. There's no indirect connection here. If you've seen hierarchical organizations implement microservices, it's because that organization's complement was a microservices architecture. And likewise for a chaotic organization.
--well, sidetrack: Aren't strongly hierarchical organizations the best suited for microservices? With all the strongly divided responsibilities and whatnot?
Thank you for everything you said. The reality is more nuanced and depends on the specifics. The "law" being zealously cited here isn't a rule. Nor is the thought an approach is wrong if a big organization failed at it.
There are shitty hierarchies and shitty flat organizations, just like there are shitty monoliths and shitty microservices.
Sorry if you actually agree with this more nuanced view, it's just that I've seen Conway's "Law" invoked more than once in this discussion and it drives me bonkers. I get the same way when someone ("Medium Developers" I call them, more than green but less than seasoned who swallow everything the read on Medium as gospel and run around quoting it zealously) quoted liskov substitution principle at me as if it was one of Newton's Laws.