Architecture

Human Monoliths

Conway's Law states that any organization that designs a system will inevitably produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure. In other words, software architecture becomes a reflection of team structure and communication pathways between teams. If that's the case, then some organizations must be more likely to produce well-designed modular systems, whereas others might be doomed to build monolithic applications. **Human Monoliths** are teams whose structure drives them to create tightly-coupled, hard-to-maintain software. Let's take a look at the different types of human monoliths as well as a few tips on how to avoid becoming one.