Conway’s Law: Principle, often cited in software development, that states the design of a system will inevitably reflect the communication structures of the organization that created it.

Technical success is not just about having the smartest people/best design. Conway’s law was originally a sociological observation about how teams work. Technical goals can become un-achievable, or velocity will dramatically slow/collapse if the wrong structure, roles, and responsibilities are in place.

Therefore, it’s important to either set up an organization’s structure as well as the team roles and responsibilities (or reorganize the existing one) to achieve the desired design goals.

This law has been interpreted to work both ways. You can affect design through organizational structure, or affect organizational structure by changing design.