Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation Transformation And Solution Design

Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation Transformation And Solution Design

Alan McSweeney

http://ie.linkedin.com/in/alanmcsweeney




• A mouthful of apparently diverse but actually very closely related topics

September 27, 2016 2



Conway’s Law

Describes Limitations In The Way

Organisations Design Systems

Cognitive Diversity

Concept That Teams With Diversity In Perspective And Experience Develop Better

Solutions To Problems Than Homogenous Teams Of High

Achievers

Organisation Transformation

Designing And Implementing New Organisation Structures

And Processes And Supporting And Enabling Solutions And

Technologies

Solution Design

Approach To Designing Solutions That Meet The

Needs Of The Business And Deliver Business Benefits

Effective Solution Design

Capability Is Needed To

Achieve Transformation

Creates Awareness Of And Describes Organisation

Limitations To Achieving Effective Solution

Cognitive Diversity Enables Better Solution

Identification

Describes Organisation Limitations In

Solution Design

An Approach To Overcoming The

Limitations Described In Conway’s Law

Conway's Law


Cognitive Diversity



Achievers




Technologies

Solution Design









Identification


Solution Design



Conway’s Law



Conway’s Law

• Short article written by Dr Melvin Conway in April 1968 - How Do Committees Invent? - Design Organization Criteria − http://www.melconway.com/Home/pdf/committees.pdf

• Nearly 50 years old and still as insightful as when it was originally written −“ … there is a very close relationship between the

structure of a system and the structure of the organization which designed it.” −“… organizations which design systems … are

constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.”


http://www.melconway.com/Home/pdf/committees.pdf

http://www.melconway.com/Home/pdf/committees.pdf

Dr Melvin Conway - How Do Committees Invent?


Conway - How Do Committees Invent?

• “That kind of intellectual activity which creates a whole from its diverse parts may be called the design of a system.”

• “It is an article of faith among experienced system designers that given any system design, someone someday will find a better one to do the same job. In other words, it is misleading and incorrect to speak of the design for a specific job, unless this is understood in the context of space, time, knowledge, and technology. The humility which this belief should impose on system designers is the only appropriate posture for those who read history or consult their memories.”


Conway - Solution Design Stages And Problems


Understanding of the boundaries, both on the design activity and on the system to be designed, placed by the

sponsor and by the world's realities

Achievement of a preliminary notion of the system's organization so that design task groups can be

meaningfully assigned

Choice of a preliminary system concept

Organization of the design activity and delegation of tasks according to that concept

Coordination among delegated tasks

Consolidation of subdesigns into a single design

Organisational Bias Gets Introduced and Reinforced Through The Design Process

Design Fragmentation Starts

And Persists

The Design Organisation

• “Parkinson's Law plays an important role in the overassignment of design effort. As long as the manager's prestige and power are tied to the size of his budget, he will be motivated to expand his organization. This is an inappropriate motive in the management of a system design activity. Once the organization exists, of course, it will be used. Probably the greatest single common factor behind many poorly designed systems now in existence has been the availability of a design organization in need of work.”


The Design Organisation

• The structure of the wider organisation ensures the design function is incentivised to become large

• The large design function creates work for itself to justify its size and existence


Conway’s Law And Large System Design And Development Disintegration


“The structures of large systems tend to disintegrate during

development, qualitatively more so than with small systems.”

“First, the realization by the initial designers that the system will be large, together with certain pressures in their

organization, make irresistible the temptation to assign too many people

to a design effort..” “Second, application of the conventional wisdom of management to a large design organization causes

its communication structure to disintegrate.”

“Third, the [structure-preserving relationship between the organisation and its designs]

insures that the structure of the system will reflect the disintegration which has occurred in

the design organization.”

Solving The Design Structure Reproduction Bias

• “Ways must be found to reward design managers for keeping their organizations lean and flexible. There is need for a philosophy of system design management which is not based on the assumption that adding manpower simply adds to productivity. The development of such a philosophy promises to unearth basic questions about value of resources and techniques of communication which will need to be answered before our system-building technology can proceed with confidence.”


Conway’s Law

• Is an example of an organisation comfort zone – where the organisations remain and repeats what is it comfortable with − People and organisations like comfort zones because they are

comfortable

• Provides an insight into the solution design problems that can occur if the solution design structures, processes and function are not optimised

• What is describes does not have to happen but all too frequently does

• It is a warning rather than a prediction


Cognitive Diversity


Conway’s Law






Technologies

Solution Design









Identification


Solution Design



Cognitive Diversity



Achievers

Cognitive Diversity

• Value in Diversity Hypothesis - Dr Scott Page, University of Michigan − Paper: Groups of diverse problem solvers can outperform groups of high-ability

problem solvers

• “… a random group of intelligent problem solvers will outperform a group of the best problem solvers”

− Based on some dodgy mathematical reasoning but the concept is nonetheless valid

• Cognitive Diversity has become a fashionable concept that is talked about more than implemented

• Value of cognitive diversity to organisations is greatest in the thinking areas − But managing diverse teams can be difficult − Achieving cognitive diversity can be painful and challenging

• It is of less value in pure operational and transactions areas where there is a reduced need for problem-solving


Solutions To Problems Can Be Represented As Minima On A Graph


Possible Solutions To Problems – Local and Global Minima

Solutions To Problems Can Be Represented As Minima In Graph


How Do You Know The Local Minimum You Have Found Is

The Absolute Minimum?

Local Minimum

Absolute Minimum

Solution Identification And Team With Narrowly Focussed Skills


Team With Too Similar And

Clustered Skills And Experiences

Frequently Cannot See Beyond Their Collective Horizon

Solution Identification And Team With Broad Range Of Skills


More Cognitively Diverse Team With Broad Range Of Skills And Experiences Sees Wider Range Of Solution Options

Including Better Ones

Cognitive Diversity Can Protect The Organisation Against …

• Cognitive Bias – Poor or inaccurate judgements, illogical interpretations and decisions, characterised by patterns of behaviour

• Strategic Misrepresentation – Deliberate misrepresentation in budgeting caused by distorted incentives

• Planning Fallacy – Systematic tendency to underestimate how long it will take to complete a task even when there is past experience of similar tasks over-running

• Optimism Bias – Systematic tendency to be overly optimistic about the outcome of actions

• Focalism – Systematic tendency to become inwardly focussed and to lose situational awareness and appreciation of wider context during times of stress

• Groupthink – The need for agreement, accord and compliance within the group results in a flawed, illogical and inhibited decision-making processes and decisions


Feeling The Squeeze


Cognitive

Biases

Focalism

Factors Affecting

Good Design Decisions

Cognitive Bias - Types

• Many classifications and types of cognitive bias

• Can be very difficult to avoid because of their embedded nature and emotional/irrational basis −Decision-Making and Behavioural Biases - affecting belief

formation and business decisions

− Probability and Belief Biases - affecting way in which information is gathered and assessed

−Attributional Biases - affecting the determination what was responsible for an event or action

• Cognitive biases are very real and can have damaging effects


Decision-Making And Behavioural Biases

• Relying too heavily on one piece of information when making a decision - Anchoring

• Believing things because many others, believe the same – Bandwagon

• Assigning greater weight to apparently dominant factors – Attention Bias

• Interpreting information so as to that confirms preconceptions – Confirmation

• Seeing oneself as less biased than others – Blind Spot

• Strong preference for immediate payoffs relative to later ones – Hyperbolic Discounting

• Greater preferences just because of familiarity - Exposure Effect

• Paying more attention and giving more weight to the negative rather than the positive – Negativity Bias

• Looking for information even when it cannot affect action – Information Bias

• Placing too much importance on one aspect - Focusing Effect

• Looking to reduce a small risk to zero rather than a greater reduction of a larger risk – Zero-Risk Bias

• Rejecting new evidence that contradicts an established paradigm – Semmelweis Effect

• Making decisions based to what is pleasing to imagine instead basing decisions on evidence and rationality – Wishful Thinking

• Assigning a higher value to disposal/loss compared with cost of acquisition – Sunk Cost Effect

• Viewing a harmful action as worse than an equally harmful omission or inaction – Omission Bias

• Justifying increased investment based on the cumulative prior investment despite new evidence suggesting that the decision was wrong - Irrational Escalation


Probability And Belief Biases

• Excessive or inflated belief one's performance, ability – Overconfidence Effect

• Belief gaining plausibility through increasing repetition – Availability Cascade

• Assigning greater weight to initial or recent events more than subsequent or later events – Serial Position Effect

• Assigning a lower probability to the whole than the probabilities of the parts – Subadditivity Effect

• Avoidance of risk or the negative by pretending they do not exist – Ostrich Effect

• Judging future events in a more positive light than is warranted by actual experience – Optimism Bias

• Perceiving patterns where none exist – Clustering

• Selecting an options for which the probability of a favourable outcome is known over an option for which the probability of a favourable outcome is unknown - Ambiguity Effect

• Considering information to be correct if it has any personal meaning or significance – Subjective Validation

• Overestimating the likelihood of positive rather than negative outcomes – Valence Effect

• Failure to examine all possible outcomes when making a judgment – Attentional Bias


Attributional Biases

• Where skilled underrate their abilities and unskilled overrate their abilities – Dunning–Kruger Effect

• Defending the status quo – System Justification

• Overestimation of agreement – False Consensus Effect


Strategic Misrepresentation

• Deliberate misrepresentation in planning and budgeting caused by distorted incentives

• Response to how organisations structure rewards and give rise to motivations

• Systematic (and predictable) misrepresentation − Deliberately underestimate costs to gain acceptance with

understanding that costs will increase − Not willing to face reality of high costs − Overstatement or understatement of requirements − Competition for scarce funds or jockeying for position − Inclusion of ideology into planning

• Underlying system and processes need to be redesigned to eliminate


Groupthink

• The need for agreement, accord and compliance within the group results in a flawed, illogical and inhibited decision-making processes and decisions

• Group becomes dominated by small number or single individual who forces their beliefs on the group

• Tendency for consensus and agreement and the desire to minimise contention means alternatives are not fully evaluated

• Group isolates itself from information on alternatives

• Disagreement and dissent are quashed or concealed through self-censorship


Groupthink Symptoms And Characteristics


Groupthink

Exaggeration Of The Power And Rightness

Of The Group

Illusion of Invulnerability

Members ignore obvious danger, take extreme risk, and are overly optimistic

Illusion of Morality

Members believe their decisions are morally correct, ignoring the ethical consequences of their decisions

Closed-Mindedness

Collective Rationalization

Members discredit and explain away warning contrary to group thinking

Excessive Stereotyping

The group constructs negative stereotypes of rivals outside the group

Uniformity, Unanimity and Suppression of

Dissent

Pressure for Conformity

Members pressure any in the group who express arguments against the group's stereotypes, illusions, or

commitments, viewing such opposition as disloyalty

Self-Censorship

Members withhold their dissenting views and counter-arguments

Illusion of Unanimity

Members perceive falsely that everyone agrees with the group's decision; silence is seen as consent

Mindguards Some group members appoint themselves to the role of

protecting the group from adverse information that might threaten group complacency

Collective Organisation Cognitive Diversity

• Individual abilities grow only slowly over time

• Collective organisation diversity can grow

• Cognitive diversity is an enabler of innovation and problem resolution


Dimensions And Extent Of Cognitive Diversity

• Knowledge/Experience/Skills – “tangible” diversity – measure of specific skills that are not directly relevant to the domain of the organisation

• Mindset/Viewpoint/Attitude/Frame Of Reference – “intangible” diversity – measure of creativity/ originality/ ingenuity

• Extent Of Cognitive Diversity – Need to find an appropriate level/amount for the organisation to balance benefits and challenges


One View Of Knowledge/Experience/Skills Cognitive Diversity Dimension


Specific Domain Skills (Banking,

Pharmaceutical, Utility, Telecoms,

etc.)

Common Organisation Skills and Experience

Instead Of Looking For Domain Specific Skills

Look For People With World-Class

Skills In Areas Common To All Organisations

Dimensions And Extent Of Cognitive Diversity


Knowledge/ Experience/

Skills

Mindset/ Viewpoint/ Attitude/ Frame Of Reference

Extent Of Cognitive Diversity

Are You Ready For The Challenges Of Cognitive Diversity?


Yes That’s Great

Wonderful

Absolutely I Agree

No

I Don’t Agree

That’s Not Right

There’s Got To Be A Better

Way

Why Are We Doing

This?

Change From Yes Men To No Men And Why Men

Find The Right Balance Of Cognitive Diversity


Knowledge/ Experience/

Skills

Mindset/ Viewpoint/ Attitude/ Frame Of Reference

Extent Of Cognitive Diversity

High Tangible

Low Intangible

High Intangible

Low Tangible

Medium Intangible Medium Tangible

Cognitive Diversity Balancing Act


Lack of broad range of

experience and

perspective

High overhead of

managing very diverse

teams

Measuring (The Outcomes Of) Cognitive Diversity

• There are no simple and objective cognitive diversity metrics − Some attempts to develop complex measures based on “cognitive

distance” of members of the group − Commercially available questionnaires on cognitive style of team

members – “object imagers”, “spatial imagers” and “verbalisers” – that are of limited use

• All measures are purely subjective

• A subjective measure of cognitive diversity may itself be biased and may not represent actual and effective cognitive diversity that delivers successful outcomes

• Be wary of pseudo-cognitive diversity masquerading as actual cognitive diversity


Cognitive DINO (Diversity In Name Only)

• Avoid the cognitive diversity DINOsaurs


Bias Towards Lack Of Cognitive Diversity In Organisations

• Organisations and those who hire new staff tend to look for people with similar skills and experience, reinforcing bias and ensuring similarity − Cognitive diversity moves an organisations and its individuals from their

comfort zones

• Specific organisation domain experience is valued over other skills and experience

• Organisations reproduce themselves through unconscious reinforcement and bias

• Organisations consequently have difficulty in reacting to change, introducing innovations and achieving necessary transformation

• New organisations with new structures perform well initially and overtake established ones until they too become affected by embedded lack of cognitive diversity and are themselves overtaken


Bias Towards Lack Of Cognitive Diversity In Organisations

• Lack of cognitive diversity is an example of the application of Conway’s Law in the identification and implementation of staffing solutions

• Cognitive diversity neither recognised or valued

• The solution design function benefits from controlled cognitive diversity




Conway’s Law



Cognitive Diversity



Achievers

Solution Design









Identification


Solution Design






Technologies


• Is concerned with a structured approach to analysing, designing and then the implementation of changes to the operation of an existing business function or entire organisation with a view to improving its operations or developing a new business function along the dimensions of: − Location and Offices

− Business Processes

− Technology, Infrastructure and Communications

− Applications and Systems

− Information and Data

− Organisation and Structure

• It is about business solutions and organisation changes to deliver business objectives



Organisation Transformation Is Frequently Concerned With A Migration From Products To Services

Product Solution Limited Services

Utility Services

Ongoing Services

Where Many Companies Are

Now

Where Many

Companies Want To Be

Need A Structured Approach For Transformation To Achieve Services

Vision

Differentiated

Responsive

Customer Centric

Self-Service

Flexible

Drivers Of Organisation Transformation


• Merger/ Acquisition/ Divestment

• Customer Requirements / Expectations

• Regulatory Changes

• Market Changes

• New Products / Services

• Competitive Pressure

• Organisational Changes

• Business Needs

• Technology Changes

… Improve Customer Satisfaction


Typical Organisation Transformation Desired Outcomes

… Reduce Process Cycle Times

… Reduce Operational Costs

… Improve Service Quality

… Reduce Time To Introduce New Products/Services

Organisation Transformation – Core Internal Organisation Areas


• Organisation transformation is concerned with changes in one or more of these areas and co-ordinating changes across these areas to deliver the greatest benefit


Location and Offices

Business Processes

Technology, Infrastructure

and Communications

Applications and Systems

Information and Data

Organisation and Structure

Dimensions Of Organisation Transformation

• Business Oriented Dimensions Of Change − Location and Offices – existing and new locations and facilities of the

organisation, their types and functions and the principles that govern the selection of new locations

− Business Processes – current and future business process definitions, requirements, characteristics, performance

− Organisation and Structure – organisation resources and arrangement, business unit, function and team structures and composition, relationships, reporting and management, roles and skills

• Technology Oriented Dimensions Of Change − Technology, Infrastructure and Communications – current and future

technical infrastructure including security, constraints, standards, technology trends, characteristics, performance requirements

− Applications and Systems – current and future applications and systems, characteristics, constraints, assumptions, requirements, design principles, interface standards, connectivity to business processes

− Information and Data – data and information architecture, data integration, master and reference data, data access and management


Organisation Transformation Journey


Journey Is A Sequence Of Changes Along The Core

Dimensions Of Organisation Transformation

Complexity Factors In Organisation Transformation


Organisation Transformation And Information Technology

• IT underpins successful and effective organisation transformation

• Transformation will involve new and changes to existing solutions −An effective and high-performing solution design function is

necessary

• Solution design involves identifying the scope of the entire solution including all its components and the required technology and operational changes

• Solution design needs to take account of all solution components in order to quantify the true scope of the effort needed to implement the solution


Organisation Transformation And IT Alignment


Business Needs

Market Changes

Regulatory Changes

Customer Requirements

Organisational Changes

IT Function Underlying Solution Delivery And Operation Enablement

Structure

Solution Design And Delivery

Business And IT Alignment

New Products/ Services

Competitive Pressures

Digital Transformation As An Example Of Organisation Transformation


Digital transformation is about moving the organisation from one that is internally focussed around its siloed structures:

To one that is focussed on customer (external party) straight-through interactions:

Move to customer service orientation

Complexity Factors In Digital Transformation


Getting Digital Transformation Right Means …


Greater Efficiency

Reduced Cost

Increased Agility

Improved Competitive Positioning

Greater Responsiveness

Increased Customer

Satisfaction Increased Customer Retention

Increased Ability To Provide Innovative Products And

Services To Customers And Partners Across Multiple

Channels

Getting Digital Transformation Wrong Means …


Wasted Investment

Lost Revenue And Profits

Loss Of Customers

Unfulfilled Expectations Wasted

Resources

Frustrated Customers And

Employees Loss Of

Competitive Positioning

Wasted Time and Lost Opportunity

Cost

Digital Transformation And Technology Enablement Iceberg


In Order to Extend and Expose Capabilities and Business

Processes Outside the Organisation …

… You Will Need a Substantial Amount of Enabling Technology, Systems,

Resources and Supporting Processes and Organisation Change

Successful Digital Operations Require

Investment and Commitment

Digital Transformation And Solution Design

• Digital transformation involves designing and implementing solutions across a wide range of application and system areas


External Party Interaction Zones, Channels and Facilities

Security, Identity , Access and

Profile Management

Responsive Infrastructure

Digital Specific Applications and Tools

Internal Interaction Management

Integration

Operational and Business Systems

Applications Delivery and Management Tools and

Frameworks

System Development, Deployment and Management

Digital Transformation And Solution Design

• Large number of new and changes to existing solutions and systems needed to achieve transformation requires an optimised and efficient solution design process and associated team


Solution Design


Conway’s Law



Cognitive Diversity



Achievers




Technologies







Identification


Solution Design



Solution Design



Solution Design

• An effective solution design and architecture function requires the capability to identify the scope of the entire solution including all its components and the required technology and operational changes


Being Good At Solution Design Means

• Solutions are defined, designed and delivered in a reliable, stable and innovative way to ensure that cost, time, required functionality and quality are constantly optimised to meet the needs of the business

• Good solution design means being aware of all the options and selecting the most appropriate one subject to all constraints

• Good solution design means avoiding all the conscious and unconscious biases that lead to bad solutions

• Doing the right thinks and doing them the right way


Solution Design And Cognitive Diversity

• A cognitively diverse team designs better solutions


Characteristics Of A Good Design Process And Team

• Awareness of factors such as Cognitive Bias, Strategic Misrepresentation, Planning Fallacy, Optimism Bias, Focalism and Groupthink and their characteristics and consequences

• Neutral leader with no explicit expression of preferences

• Encouragement of open inquiry

• Keep minds open

• Look for gaps in solution

• Consider alternatives including unpopular ones

• Separate design function into sub-groups working on alternatives

• Consider doubts after consensus

• Include outside experts

• Discuss preliminary decisions with individuals

• Ask for viewpoints different from your own

• Solicit opinions from less outspoken people


Solution Design Process


Initial Concept Of Need/ Goal/ Objective

Formal Statement Of Need/ Goal/ Objective

Stakeholder Requirements Collection and Specification

Solution Requirements Collection and Specification

Solution Architecture Design and Specification

Elicit Stakeholder Requirements Formalise Stakeholder

Requirements

Define Solution Requirements Analyse Solution Requirements

Define Solution Architecture and Design

Analyse, Evaluate and Refine Solution Architecture

Implementation Project

Initial Architecture Review and Options


• Each stage uses the output from the previous stage as an input

• Detail is refined, extended and elaborated on in successive stages










Stage Scope Initial Concept Of Need/ Goal/ Objective

The business have an idea for a solution based on an apparent need to solve a problem, to do what is currently not possible, to react or respond to an external demand or to be able to achieve a new objective.


This formalises the initial concept to introduce greater consistency and detail. It serves to understand the business, objectives, purposes and potential organisational impacts. It describes what the ideal solution will do. It also identifies the high-level potential system impacts.


This uses the formal statement of need to create an initial high-level view of the overall solution, its new and existing systems and applications components, the required functionality, their interfaces, the required processes and the business functions impacted. This provides a container for the requirements and a vision for the solution.


This uses this initial architectural review output in a structured way to elicit and formalise the set of stakeholder requirements across the dimensions of functionality and processes.


The solution requirements specification is a fuller, more detailed and elaborated set of solution requirements encompassing all the solution components. This includes the requirements explicitly identified by stakeholders and the implied requirements.


This is the detailed solution specification derived from the stakeholder and solution requirements.

Implementation Project This uses the detailed solution specification to act as an input to project definition and to create a realistic implementation plan, schedule, set of costs and required resources.



• There is a decision point after each stage where a decision is made if it is worthwhile to proceed to the next stage









Decision Points


• Not all concepts make it all the way to implementation

• Process needs to accommodate this

• Do as little as possible to achieve as much as possible to make an informed decision on whether and how to proceed to the next stage in the solution journey









Solution Design Process - Iterations

• Solution design process is not necessarily linear

• Stages can be iterated a number of times to different levels of detail











Conway’s Law



Cognitive Diversity



Achievers




Technologies

Solution Design



Design Target Transformation

Architecture And Design Systems

And Solutions To Achieve

Transformation

Improve System And Solution Design And Associated Usability

And Utility

Implement Cognitive Diversity

To Overcome Inherent

Organisational Constraints

Summary

• Conway’s Law describes limitations that all too frequently arise in the organisation’s solution design process and function

• Achieving appropriate cognitive diversity within the organisation’s solution design function can eliminate the circumstances that cause Conway’s Law to come into effect

• Successful organisation transformation initiatives such as digital transformation require a high-performing solution design function

• Having the insight to know what solution design problems can arise and how they can be fixed will help avoid them


More Information

Alan McSweeney




Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation Transformation And Solution Design

Technology

Transcript of Conway's Law, Cognitive Diversity, Organisation Transformation And Solution Design