# Reverse Conway Maneuver

> Design team boundaries and communication paths to encourage the system architecture you want.

- HTML version: https://robbiepalmer.me/ideas/reverse-conway-maneuver
- Source: https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ConwaysLaw.html

The reverse Conway maneuver turns Conway's Law into an intervention. Start with the architecture
the product needs, then shape team ownership and communication so that architecture is the easiest
one for the organisation to produce.

This is more than redrawing an org chart. A team needs the skills, authority, feedback, and
operational responsibility to own its boundary. Otherwise the old dependency network survives
under new names.

I find the maneuver most useful when deciding whether a team can deliver a customer outcome without
waiting on a queue of specialist teams. It is less useful as an excuse to force every software
module into a permanent team boundary. Both products and organisations change.

## Practical test

Trace one valuable change from request to production. Every mandatory handoff reveals a
communication boundary that the architecture is likely to preserve.

## Related ideas

- [Conway's Law](https://robbiepalmer.me/ideas/conways-law.md): The structure of a system tends to reproduce the communication structure of the organisation that built it.

## Where it appears

- Blog post: [Crossing the Chasm with AI Platform Teams](https://robbiepalmer.me/blog/2026-08-18-crossing-the-chasm-with-ai-platform-teams.md)

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