""Any organization that designs a system will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure." - Melvin Conway It's one of those lines we repeat so often it's lost its teeth. But the longer you work in software, the more you realize: this isn't a quirk of org charts. It's the source of most architectural pain."
"Architecture doesn't fail in the codebase. It fails in the meeting rooms. In the handoffs. In the silences between teams who don't talk - or worse, assume they understand each other. The real complexity lives between the lines - not of code, but of communication. And once we stop pretending otherwise, we begin to see that the technical is inseparable from the social."
Software architecture mirrors the structure and communication patterns of the organization that builds it rather than existing solely as a technical artifact. Architectural failures commonly arise from unclear ownership, misaligned incentives, and unspoken decisions made in meetings and handoffs. Frustration among architects often signals systemic misalignment and can guide organizational change. Platform thinking focuses on curating environments that reduce friction and foster autonomy, not just centralized tooling. The role of an architect includes enabling teams and the organization to design better systems and aligning social and technical boundaries for sustainable outcomes.
Read at InfoQ
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