Conway’s Law, EAI & The Web

Organizations designing systems are constrained to outline system architectures which reflect the communication structures of these organizations. All enterprise architecture investments to pay off, the solution need to adequately factor in organizational structure and needs Conway’s law states,"Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce system which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations".Systems, information flows and processes reflect the structural and organizational needs of an enterprise. Organizations build their IT landscape that mirror their own structure and organization. Sean Mcgrath writes, some think that the role of middleware in enterprises is somehow to eradicate all the back-roads and corridors of un-controlled information flow that Conway's Law tells us exist. The idea that computing can liberate an organization from the messy, wet complexity of human, social interactions and replace it with shiny, dry, metallic laser beams of rationalized, straight line logic is far fetched.
Mcgrath explains, Enterprise integration is, to be seen as a dispute resolution problem.Different computer systems see the world in many different ways. The custodians of the different systems need to work together without sacrificing their autonomy and without necessarily trusting or even liking the other parties in the integrated system. Placing people in place of computers lists down numerous possibilities. Mcgrath argues that Computers in organizations are just proxies for people. Conway's Law rules and complexities shall always remain needing specifically well thought out questions. Mcgrath adds, the Web can be seen as a giant secretariat for mediators and mediatees to get together and build their relationships on ready-made components such as URLs, HTTP and XML. Maybe the term "interoperability" can be best understood as successful dispute resolution. If so, then the Web is the most accomplished dispute resolution device in the history of the planet. This is a thought provoking perspective in the complex world of EAI perspectives!!