Have you ever worked in an organization run by committee? All decisions requiring consensus, even the minutiae? Immutable command and control structures that were often too busy to collaborate with underlings? What did their results look like? I like how Mel ties in the social construct and communication into the discussion of organizational structures. How we work together is important, just like what we are working on.
To the extent that an organization is not completely flexible in
its communication structure, that organization will stamp out
an image of itself in every design it produces.
… Because the design that occurs first is almost never the best
possible, the prevailing system concept [the design] may need to
change. Therefore, flexibility of organization is important to
effective design. Ways must be found to reward design managers
for keeping their organizations lean and flexible.-M. Conway
http://www.melconway.com/Home/Conways_Law.html
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