Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation Transformation And Solution Design

Conway's Law, Cognitive
Diversity, Organisation
Transformation And
Solution Design
Alan McSweeney
http://ie.linkedin.com/in/alanmcsweeney

Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation
Transformation And Solution Design
• A mouthful of apparently diverse but actually very closely
related topics
September 27, 2016 2

Conway’s Law
Describes Limitations
In The Way
Organisations Design
Systems
Cognitive Diversity
Concept That Teams With
Diversity In Perspective And
Experience Develop Better
Solutions To Problems Than
Homogenous Teams Of High
Achievers
Organisation
Transformation
Designing And Implementing
New Organisation Structures
And Processes And Supporting
And Enabling Solutions And
Technologies
Solution Design
Approach To Designing
Solutions That Meet The
Needs Of The Business And
Deliver Business Benefits
Effective
Solution Design
Capability Is
Needed To
Achieve
Transformation
Creates Awareness Of And
Describes Organisation
Limitations To Achieving
Effective Solution
Cognitive Diversity
Enables Better Solution
Identification
Describes
Organisation
Limitations In
Solution Design
An Approach To
Overcoming The
Limitations Described
In Conway’s Law

Conway's Law
Cognitive Diversity
Achievers
Organisation
Transformation
Technologies
Solution Design
Effective
Solution Design
Capability Is
Needed To
Achieve
Transformation
Effective Solution
Cognitive Diversity
Identification
Describes
Organisation
Limitations In
Solution Design
An Approach To
Overcoming The
In Conway’s Law
Conway’s Law
In The Way
Systems

Conway’s Law
• Short article written by Dr Melvin Conway in April 1968 -
How Do Committees Invent? - Design Organization
Criteria
− http://www.melconway.com/Home/pdf/committees.pdf
• Nearly 50 years old and still as insightful as when it was
originally written
−“ … there is a very close relationship between the
structure of a system and the structure of the
organization which designed it.”
−“… organizations which design systems … are
constrained to produce designs which are copies of the
communication structures of these organizations.”

Dr Melvin Conway - How Do Committees Invent?

Conway - How Do Committees Invent?
• “That kind of intellectual activity which creates a whole
from its diverse parts may be called the design of a
system.”
• “It is an article of faith among experienced system
designers that given any system design, someone
someday will find a better one to do the same job. In
other words, it is misleading and incorrect to speak of the
design for a specific job, unless this is understood in the
context of space, time, knowledge, and technology. The
humility which this belief should impose on system
designers is the only appropriate posture for those who
read history or consult their memories.”

Conway - Solution Design Stages And Problems
Understanding of the boundaries, both on the design
activity and on the system to be designed, placed by the
sponsor and by the world's realities
Achievement of a preliminary notion of the system's
organization so that design task groups can be
meaningfully assigned
Choice of a preliminary system concept
Organization of the design activity and delegation of tasks
according to that concept
Coordination among delegated tasks
Consolidation of subdesigns into a single design
Organisational Bias
Gets Introduced and
Reinforced Through
The Design Process
Design
Fragmentation Starts
And Persists

The Design Organisation
• “Parkinson's Law plays an important role in the
overassignment of design effort. As long as the
manager's prestige and power are tied to the size of his
budget, he will be motivated to expand his organization.
This is an inappropriate motive in the management of a
system design activity. Once the organization exists, of
course, it will be used. Probably the greatest single
common factor behind many poorly designed systems
now in existence has been the availability of a design
organization in need of work.”

The Design Organisation
• The structure of the wider organisation ensures the design
function is incentivised to become large
• The large design function creates work for itself to justify
its size and existence

Conway’s Law And Large System Design And
Development Disintegration
“The structures of large systems
tend to disintegrate during
development, qualitatively more so
than with small systems.”
“First, the realization by the initial
designers that the system will be large,
together with certain pressures in their
organization, make irresistible the
temptation to assign too many people
to a design effort..”“Second, application of the
conventional wisdom of management
to a large design organization causes
its communication structure to
disintegrate.”
“Third, the [structure-preserving relationship
between the organisation and its designs]
insures that the structure of the system will
reflect the disintegration which has occurred in
the design organization.”

Solving The Design Structure Reproduction Bias
• “Ways must be found to reward design managers for
keeping their organizations lean and flexible. There is
need for a philosophy of system design management
which is not based on the assumption that adding
manpower simply adds to productivity. The development
of such a philosophy promises to unearth basic questions
about value of resources and techniques of
communication which will need to be answered before
our system-building technology can proceed with
confidence.”

Conway’s Law
• Is an example of an organisation comfort zone – where the
organisations remain and repeats what is it comfortable
with
− People and organisations like comfort zones because they are
comfortable
• Provides an insight into the solution design problems that
can occur if the solution design structures, processes and
function are not optimised
• What is describes does not have to happen but all too
frequently does
• It is a warning rather than a prediction

Cognitive Diversity
Conway’s Law
In The Way
Systems
Organisation
Transformation
Technologies
Solution Design
Effective
Solution Design
Capability Is
Needed To
Achieve
Transformation
Effective Solution
Cognitive Diversity
Identification
Describes
Organisation
Limitations In
Solution Design
An Approach To
Overcoming The
In Conway’s Law
Cognitive Diversity
Achievers

Cognitive Diversity
• Value in Diversity Hypothesis - Dr Scott Page, University of Michigan
− Paper: Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability
problem solvers
• “… a random group of intelligent problem solvers will
outperform a group of the best problem solvers”
− Based on some dodgy mathematical reasoning but the concept is nonetheless
valid
• Cognitive Diversity has become a fashionable concept that is talked
about more than implemented
• Value of cognitive diversity to organisations is greatest in the
thinking areas
− But managing diverse teams can be difficult
− Achieving cognitive diversity can be painful and challenging
• It is of less value in pure operational and transactions areas where
there is a reduced need for problem-solving

Solutions To Problems Can Be Represented As
Minima On A Graph
Possible Solutions To Problems – Local and Global Minima

Solutions To Problems Can Be Represented As
Minima In Graph
How Do You Know
The Local Minimum
You Have Found Is
The Absolute
Minimum?
Local
Minimum
Absolute
Minimum

Solution Identification And Team With Narrowly
Focussed Skills
Team With Too
Similar And
Clustered Skills
And Experiences
Frequently Cannot
See Beyond Their
Collective Horizon

Solution Identification And Team With Broad Range
Of Skills
More Cognitively Diverse Team With
Broad Range Of Skills And Experiences
Sees Wider Range Of Solution Options
Including Better Ones

Cognitive Diversity Can Protect The Organisation
Against …
• Cognitive Bias – Poor or inaccurate judgements, illogical
interpretations and decisions, characterised by patterns of
behaviour
• Strategic Misrepresentation – Deliberate misrepresentation in
budgeting caused by distorted incentives
• Planning Fallacy – Systematic tendency to underestimate how long
it will take to complete a task even when there is past experience of
similar tasks over-running
• Optimism Bias – Systematic tendency to be overly optimistic about
the outcome of actions
• Focalism – Systematic tendency to become inwardly focussed and to
lose situational awareness and appreciation of wider context during
times of stress
• Groupthink – The need for agreement, accord and compliance
within the group results in a flawed, illogical and inhibited decision-
making processes and decisions

Feeling The Squeeze
Cognitive
Biases
Focalism
Factors
Affecting
Good Design
Decisions

Cognitive Bias - Types
• Many classifications and types of cognitive bias
• Can be very difficult to avoid because of their embedded
nature and emotional/irrational basis
− Decision-Making and Behavioural Biases - affecting belief
formation and business decisions
− Probability and Belief Biases - affecting way in which information
is gathered and assessed
− Attributional Biases - affecting the determination what was
responsible for an event or action
• Cognitive biases are very real and can have damaging
effects

Decision-Making And Behavioural Biases
• Relying too heavily on one piece of
information when making a decision -
Anchoring
• Believing things because many others,
believe the same – Bandwagon
• Assigning greater weight to apparently
dominant factors – Attention Bias
• Interpreting information so as to that
confirms preconceptions – Confirmation
• Seeing oneself as less biased than others –
Blind Spot
• Strong preference for immediate payoffs
relative to later ones – Hyperbolic
Discounting
• Greater preferences just because of
familiarity - Exposure Effect
• Paying more attention and giving more
weight to the negative rather than the
positive – Negativity Bias
• Looking for information even when it
cannot affect action – Information Bias
• Placing too much importance on one
aspect - Focusing Effect
• Looking to reduce a small risk to zero
rather than a greater reduction of a larger
risk – Zero-Risk Bias
• Rejecting new evidence that contradicts
an established paradigm – Semmelweis
Effect
• Making decisions based to what is pleasing
to imagine instead basing decisions on
evidence and rationality – Wishful
Thinking
• Assigning a higher value to disposal/loss
compared with cost of acquisition – Sunk
Cost Effect
• Viewing a harmful action as worse than an
equally harmful omission or inaction –
Omission Bias
• Justifying increased investment based on
the cumulative prior investment despite
new evidence suggesting that the decision
was wrong - Irrational Escalation

Probability And Belief Biases
• Excessive or inflated belief one's
performance, ability – Overconfidence
Effect
• Belief gaining plausibility through
increasing repetition – Availability
Cascade
• Assigning greater weight to initial or
recent events more than subsequent
or later events – Serial Position Effect
• Assigning a lower probability to the
whole than the probabilities of the
parts – Subadditivity Effect
• Avoidance of risk or the negative by
pretending they do not exist – Ostrich
Effect
• Judging future events in a more
positive light than is warranted by
actual experience – Optimism Bias
• Perceiving patterns where none exist
– Clustering
• Selecting an options for which the
probability of a favourable outcome is
known over an option for which the
probability of a favourable outcome is
unknown - Ambiguity Effect
• Considering information to be correct
if it has any personal meaning or
significance – Subjective Validation
• Overestimating the likelihood of
positive rather than negative
outcomes – Valence Effect
• Failure to examine all possible
outcomes when making a judgment –
Attentional Bias

Attributional Biases
• Where skilled underrate their abilities and unskilled
overrate their abilities – Dunning–Kruger Effect
• Defending the status quo – System Justification
• Overestimation of agreement – False Consensus Effect

Strategic Misrepresentation
• Deliberate misrepresentation in planning and budgeting caused
by distorted incentives
• Response to how organisations structure rewards and give rise
to motivations
• Systematic (and predictable) misrepresentation
− Deliberately underestimate costs to gain acceptance with
understanding that costs will increase
− Not willing to face reality of high costs
− Overstatement or understatement of requirements
− Competition for scarce funds or jockeying for position
− Inclusion of ideology into planning
• Underlying system and processes need to be redesigned to
eliminate

Groupthink
• The need for agreement, accord and compliance within
the group results in a flawed, illogical and inhibited
decision-making processes and decisions
• Group becomes dominated by small number or single
individual who forces their beliefs on the group
• Tendency for consensus and agreement and the desire to
minimise contention means alternatives are not fully
evaluated
• Group isolates itself from information on alternatives
• Disagreement and dissent are quashed or concealed
through self-censorship

Groupthink Symptoms And Characteristics
Groupthink
Exaggeration Of The
Power And Rightness
Of The Group
Illusion of
Invulnerability
Members ignore obvious danger, take extreme risk, and
are overly optimistic
Illusion of
Morality
Members believe their decisions are morally correct,
ignoring the ethical consequences of their decisions
Closed-Mindedness
Collective
Rationalization
Members discredit and explain away warning contrary to
group thinking
Excessive
Stereotyping
The group constructs negative stereotypes of rivals
outside the group
Uniformity,
Unanimity and
Suppression of
Dissent
Pressure for
Conformity
Members pressure any in the group who express
arguments against the group's stereotypes, illusions, or
commitments, viewing such opposition as disloyalty
Self-
Censorship
Members withhold their dissenting views and counter-
arguments
Illusion of
Unanimity
Members perceive falsely that everyone agrees with the
group's decision; silence is seen as consent
Mindguards
Some group members appoint themselves to the role of
protecting the group from adverse information that might
threaten group complacency

Collective Organisation Cognitive Diversity
• Individual abilities grow only slowly over time
• Collective organisation diversity can grow
• Cognitive diversity is an enabler of innovation and problem
resolution

Dimensions And Extent Of Cognitive Diversity
• Knowledge/Experience/Skills – “tangible” diversity –
measure of specific skills that are not directly relevant to
the domain of the organisation
• Mindset/Viewpoint/Attitude/Frame Of Reference –
“intangible” diversity – measure of creativity/ originality/
ingenuity
• Extent Of Cognitive Diversity – Need to find an
appropriate level/amount for the organisation to balance
benefits and challenges

One View Of Knowledge/Experience/Skills Cognitive
Diversity Dimension
Specific Domain
Skills (Banking,
Pharmaceutical,
Utility, Telecoms,
etc.)
Common Organisation Skills and Experience
Instead Of Looking For
Domain Specific Skills
Look For People
With World-Class
Skills In Areas
Common To All
Organisations

Dimensions And Extent Of Cognitive Diversity
Knowledge/
Experience/
Skills
Mindset/ Viewpoint/ Attitude/ Frame Of
Reference
Extent Of
Cognitive
Diversity

Are You Ready For The Challenges Of Cognitive
Diversity?
Yes
That’s
Great
Wonderful
Absolutely
I Agree
No
I Don’t
Agree
That’s Not
Right
There’s
Got To Be
A Better
Way
Why Are
We Doing
This?
Change From Yes
Men To No Men
And Why Men

Find The Right Balance Of Cognitive Diversity
Knowledge/
Experience/
Skills
Mindset/ Viewpoint/ Attitude/ Frame Of
Reference
Extent Of
Cognitive
Diversity
High
Tangible
Low
Intangible
High
Intangible
Low
Tangible
Medium
Intangible
Medium
Tangible

Cognitive Diversity Balancing Act
Lack of broad
range of
experience
and
perspective
High
overhead of
managing
very diverse
teams

Measuring (The Outcomes Of) Cognitive Diversity
• There are no simple and objective cognitive diversity
metrics
− Some attempts to develop complex measures based on “cognitive
distance” of members of the group
− Commercially available questionnaires on cognitive style of team
members – “object imagers”, “spatial imagers” and “verbalisers”
– that are of limited use
• All measures are purely subjective
• A subjective measure of cognitive diversity may itself be
biased and may not represent actual and effective
cognitive diversity that delivers successful outcomes
• Be wary of pseudo-cognitive diversity masquerading as
actual cognitive diversity

Cognitive DINO (Diversity In Name Only)
• Avoid the cognitive diversity DINOsaurs

Bias Towards Lack Of Cognitive Diversity In
Organisations
• Organisations and those who hire new staff tend to look for people
with similar skills and experience, reinforcing bias and ensuring
similarity
− Cognitive diversity moves an organisations and its individuals from their
comfort zones
• Specific organisation domain experience is valued over other skills
and experience
• Organisations reproduce themselves through unconscious
reinforcement and bias
• Organisations consequently have difficulty in reacting to change,
introducing innovations and achieving necessary transformation
• New organisations with new structures perform well initially and
overtake established ones until they too become affected by
embedded lack of cognitive diversity and are themselves overtaken

Bias Towards Lack Of Cognitive Diversity In
Organisations
• Lack of cognitive diversity is an example of the application
of Conway’s Law in the identification and implementation
of staffing solutions
• Cognitive diversity neither recognised or valued
• The solution design function benefits from controlled
cognitive diversity

Organisation Transformation
Conway’s Law
In The Way
Systems
Cognitive Diversity
Achievers
Solution Design
Effective
Solution Design
Capability Is
Needed To
Achieve
Transformation
Effective Solution
Cognitive Diversity
Identification
Describes
Organisation
Limitations In
Solution Design
An Approach To
Overcoming The
In Conway’s Law
Organisation
Transformation
Technologies

• Is concerned with a structured approach to analysing, designing
and then the implementation of changes to the operation of an
existing business function or entire organisation with a view to
improving its operations or developing a new business function
along the dimensions of:
− Location and Offices
− Business Processes
− Technology, Infrastructure and Communications
− Applications and Systems
− Information and Data
− Organisation and Structure
• It is about business solutions and organisation changes to
deliver business objectives

Organisation Transformation Is Frequently Concerned
With A Migration From Products To Services
Product Solution
Limited
Services
Utility
Services
Ongoing
Services
Where Many
Companies Are
Now
Where
Many
Companies
Want To Be
Need A Structured Approach For
Transformation To Achieve Services
Vision
Differentiated
Responsive
Customer
Centric
Self-Service
Flexible

Drivers Of Organisation Transformation
• Merger/ Acquisition/ Divestment
• Customer Requirements / Expectations
• Regulatory Changes
• Market Changes
• New Products / Services
• Competitive Pressure
• Organisational Changes
• Business Needs
• Technology Changes

…Improve Customer Satisfaction
Typical Organisation Transformation Desired Outcomes
…Reduce Process Cycle Times
…Reduce Operational Costs
…Improve Service Quality
…Reduce Time To Introduce New Products/Services

Organisation Transformation – Core Internal
Organisation Areas
• Organisation
transformation is
concerned with
changes in one or
more of these
areas and co-
ordinating changes
across these areas
to deliver the
greatest benefit
Organisation
Transformation
Location and
Offices
Business
Processes
Technology,
Infrastructure
and
Communications
Applications and
Systems
Information and
Data
Organisation and
Structure

Dimensions Of Organisation Transformation
• Business Oriented Dimensions Of Change
− Location and Offices – existing and new locations and facilities of the
organisation, their types and functions and the principles that govern the
selection of new locations
− Business Processes – current and future business process definitions,
requirements, characteristics, performance
− Organisation and Structure – organisation resources and arrangement,
business unit, function and team structures and composition, relationships,
reporting and management, roles and skills
• Technology Oriented Dimensions Of Change
− Technology, Infrastructure and Communications – current and future
technical infrastructure including security, constraints, standards,
technology trends, characteristics, performance requirements
− Applications and Systems – current and future applications and systems,
characteristics, constraints, assumptions, requirements, design principles,
interface standards, connectivity to business processes
− Information and Data – data and information architecture, data
integration, master and reference data, data access and management

Organisation Transformation Journey
Journey Is A Sequence Of
Changes Along The Core
Dimensions Of Organisation
Transformation

Complexity Factors In Organisation Transformation

Organisation Transformation And Information
Technology
• IT underpins successful and effective organisation
transformation
• Transformation will involve new and changes to existing
solutions
− An effective and high-performing solution design function is
necessary
• Solution design involves identifying the scope of the entire
solution including all its components and the required
technology and operational changes
• Solution design needs to take account of all solution
components in order to quantify the true scope of the
effort needed to implement the solution

Organisation Transformation And IT Alignment
Business Needs
Market Changes
Regulatory Changes
Customer Requirements
Organisational Changes
IT Function Underlying
Solution Delivery And
Operation Enablement
Structure
Solution Design And Delivery
Business And IT Alignment
New Products/ Services
Competitive Pressures

Digital Transformation As An Example Of
Digital transformation is about moving the organisation from one that
is internally focussed around its siloed structures:
To one that is focussed on customer (external party) straight-through
interactions:
Move to customer service orientation

Complexity Factors In Digital Transformation

Getting Digital Transformation Right Means …
Greater
Efficiency
Reduced
Cost
Increased
Agility
Improved
Competitive
Positioning
Greater
Responsiveness
Increased
Customer
Satisfaction
Increased
Customer
Retention
Increased Ability To Provide
Innovative Products And
Services To Customers And
Partners Across Multiple
Channels

Getting Digital Transformation Wrong Means …
Wasted
Investment
Lost Revenue
And Profits
Loss Of
Customers
Unfulfilled
ExpectationsWasted
Resources
Frustrated
Customers And
Employees
Loss Of
Competitive
Positioning
Wasted Time and
Lost Opportunity
Cost

Digital Transformation And Technology Enablement
Iceberg
In Order to Extend and Expose
Capabilities and Business
Processes Outside the
Organisation …
… You Will Need a Substantial Amount
of Enabling Technology, Systems,
Resources and Supporting Processes
and Organisation Change
Successful Digital Operations Require
Investment and Commitment

Digital Transformation And Solution Design
• Digital transformation involves designing and implementing
solutions across a wide range of application and system areas
External Party Interaction Zones, Channels and Facilities
Security, Identity
, Access and
Profile
Management
Responsive
Infrastructure
Digital Specific Applications and Tools
Internal Interaction Management
Integration
Operational and Business
Systems
Applications Delivery and
Management Tools and
Frameworks
System Development,
Deployment and Management

Digital Transformation And Solution Design
• Large number of new and changes to existing solutions
and systems needed to achieve transformation requires an
optimised and efficient solution design process and
associated team

Solution Design
Conway’s Law
In The Way
Systems
Cognitive Diversity
Achievers
Organisation
Transformation
Technologies
Effective
Solution Design
Capability Is
Needed To
Achieve
Transformation
Effective Solution
Cognitive Diversity
Identification
Describes
Organisation
Limitations In
Solution Design
An Approach To
Overcoming The
In Conway’s Law
Solution Design

Solution Design
• An effective solution design and architecture function
requires the capability to identify the scope of the entire
solution including all its components and the required
technology and operational changes

Being Good At Solution Design Means
• Solutions are defined, designed and delivered in a reliable,
stable and innovative way to ensure that cost, time,
required functionality and quality are constantly optimised
to meet the needs of the business
• Good solution design means being aware of all the options
and selecting the most appropriate one subject to all
constraints
• Good solution design means avoiding all the conscious and
unconscious biases that lead to bad solutions
• Doing the right thinks and doing them the right way

Solution Design And Cognitive Diversity
• A cognitively diverse team designs better solutions

Characteristics Of A Good Design Process And Team
• Awareness of factors such as Cognitive Bias, Strategic Misrepresentation,
Planning Fallacy, Optimism Bias, Focalism and Groupthink and their
characteristics and consequences
• Neutral leader with no explicit expression of preferences
• Encouragement of open inquiry
• Keep minds open
• Look for gaps in solution
• Consider alternatives including unpopular ones
• Separate design function into sub-groups working on alternatives
• Consider doubts after consensus
• Include outside experts
• Discuss preliminary decisions with individuals
• Ask for viewpoints different from your own
• Solicit opinions from less outspoken people

Solution Design Process
Initial Concept Of Need/ Goal/ Objective
Formal Statement Of Need/ Goal/
Objective
Stakeholder Requirements Collection
and Specification
Solution Requirements Collection and
Specification
Solution Architecture Design and
Specification
Elicit Stakeholder Requirements
Formalise Stakeholder
Requirements
Define Solution Requirements Analyse Solution Requirements
Define Solution Architecture and
Design
Analyse, Evaluate and Refine
Solution Architecture
Implementation Project
Initial Architecture Review and Options

• Each stage uses the output
from the previous stage as
an input
• Detail is refined, extended
and elaborated on in
successive stages
Objective
and Specification
Specification
Specification

Stage Scope
Initial Concept Of Need/
Goal/ Objective
The business have an idea for a solution based on an apparent need to solve a problem, to
do what is currently not possible, to react or respond to an external demand or to be able
to achieve a new objective.
Formal Statement Of
Need/ Goal/ Objective
This formalises the initial concept to introduce greater consistency and detail. It serves to
understand the business, objectives, purposes and potential organisational impacts. It
describes what the ideal solution will do. It also identifies the high-level potential system
impacts.
Initial Architecture Review
and Options
This uses the formal statement of need to create an initial high-level view of the overall
solution, its new and existing systems and applications components, the required
functionality, their interfaces, the required processes and the business functions impacted.
This provides a container for the requirements and a vision for the solution.
Stakeholder Requirements
Collection and
Specification
This uses this initial architectural review output in a structured way to elicit and formalise
the set of stakeholder requirements across the dimensions of functionality and processes.
Solution Requirements
Collection and
Specification
The solution requirements specification is a fuller, more detailed and elaborated set of
solution requirements encompassing all the solution components. This includes the
requirements explicitly identified by stakeholders and the implied requirements.
Solution Architecture
Design and Specification
This is the detailed solution specification derived from the stakeholder and solution
requirements.
Implementation Project This uses the detailed solution specification to act as an input to project definition and to
create a realistic implementation plan, schedule, set of costs and required resources.

• There is a decision
point after each
stage where a
decision is made if
it is worthwhile to
proceed to the
next stage
Objective
and Specification
Specification
Specification
Decision Points

• Not all concepts
make it all the way
to implementation
• Process needs to
accommodate this
• Do as little as
possible to achieve
as much as possible
to make an informed
decision on whether
and how to proceed
to the next stage in
the solution journey
Formal Statement Of Need/ Goal/ Objective
and Specification
Solution Requirements Collection
and Specification
Solution Architecture Design
and Specification
Implementation
Project

Solution Design Process - Iterations
• Solution design process is
not necessarily linear
• Stages can be iterated a
number of times to
different levels of detail
Objective
and Specification
Specification
Specification

Conway’s Law
In The Way
Systems
Cognitive Diversity
Achievers
Organisation
Transformation
Technologies
Solution Design
Design Target
Transformation
Architecture And
Design Systems
And Solutions To
Achieve
Transformation
Improve System And
Solution Design And
Associated Usability
And Utility
Implement
Cognitive Diversity
To Overcome
Inherent
Organisational
Constraints

Summary
• Conway’s Law describes limitations that all too frequently
arise in the organisation’s solution design process and
function
• Achieving appropriate cognitive diversity within the
organisation’s solution design function can eliminate the
circumstances that cause Conway’s Law to come into
effect
• Successful organisation transformation initiatives such as
digital transformation require a high-performing solution
design function
• Having the insight to know what solution design problems
can arise and how they can be fixed will help avoid them

More Information
Alan McSweeney
http://ie.linkedin.com/in/alanmcsweeney

Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation Transformation And Solution Design

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