[O]rganizations which design systems (in the broad sense used here) are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations.
Networks trying to coordinate across groups often don't have clear hierarchies. They may have different sizes of groups, distributions of resources and power, but no single organization is 'the boss'. In order to coordinate, they need to cooperate as peers.
This way of working is accelerating.
Many people see us careening towards unappealing futures. As quickly as possible, we need to shift to more democratic ways of working in our companies, in our communities, and everywhere we organize together. To support deeper, healthier democracies and more nurturing societies, we need to repair the fraying social fabric of our communities. Improving our ability to cooperate as a species increases our chances of avoiding or mitigating any number of the catastrophic systemic problems we are grappling with every day. Cooperating means implementing infrastructure and processes that support coherent self-management. Instead of hierarchies that just get bigger, we want to support nested networks of many circles of people working together. Whether each group is hierarchical or flat, together, the connected network works collaboratively and shares the benefits of their contributions equitably. Together, let’s move towards a more democratic and cooperative world.
At Socialroots, we are building communication infrastructure to enable this kind of cooperative group dynamic, and we take Conway's law to heart. Our internal team decision-making and power structures draw on cooperative practice whenever possible. To learn more about how we practice this in our own team, dive into our thoughts about team health.
Does cooperative coordination sound like something your network would like better infrastructure for? Want to discover if Socialroots can make your coordination work faster, easier, and less costly? If so, tell us a bit about your network's needs.