Pulling an Inverse Conway Maneuver at Netflix (2023)
2 days ago
- #Conway's Law
- #Netflix
- #Observability
- Netflix's Observability org initially had three teams managing about 20 different apps, leading to a disjointed user experience.
- Conway's Law explains how the org structure influenced the architecture, resulting in independent apps.
- Netflix's Full Cycle Development approach allowed teams high independence, leading to heterogeneous tools.
- By 2020, users faced challenges with troubleshooting due to fragmented tools and scattered documentation.
- Initial solutions like deep linking between apps proved insufficient and highlighted overlaps and inefficiencies.
- The realization emerged that a unified observability platform was needed for a cohesive user experience.
- Management executed an Inverse Conway Maneuver, restructuring teams to align with the desired architecture.
- The new Explore team was formed to optimize communication and create a unified experience across logs, metrics, traces, alerts, and dashboards.
- Trade-offs included slower front-end and back-end alignment, deemed acceptable for the higher priority of unification.
- Key takeaways: Org structure limits design solutions (Conway's Law), Inverse Conway Maneuver can align org structure with goals, different org configurations may be needed over time, and trade-offs must be considered.