Large systems tend to disintegrate during development

The size of a system is correlated to the qualitative disintegration of its structure during development:

The structures of large systems tend to disintegrate during development, qualitatively more so than with small systems.[1]

Conway argues that, “An activity called ‘system management’ has sprung up partially in response to this tendency of systems to disintegrate.”[2] He traces the disintegration to three sequential factors that contribute to it:

  1. Assigning too many people to the design: “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.”
  2. Disintegration of communication structure: “Second, application of the conventional wisdom of management to a large design organization causes its communication structure to disintegrate.”
  3. Systemic structure reflects the disintegration: “Third, the homomorphism insures that the structure of the system will reflect the disintegration which has occurred in the design organization.”

#systems #complexity #communication

See also:

  1. How Do Committees Invent – Conway (1968), § “System Management,” 4. ↩︎

  2. Ibid. ↩︎