For reference (as per Wikipedia):
Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.
— Melvin E. Conway
Imagine interpreting that as advice on how you should try to design things, lol.
Tbf, I think most of the post is just typical LinkedIn fluff, but I didn't want to take the poor fellow out of context.
Totally 👍I'd take it even a step further to say that he doesn't even mention managers (or any other role) in the text-- It's the comic that states that, as you say. It's debatable to what extent the comic and the text should be read as one unit, but I think it's fair to contextualize them together.
If you're right about the intent-- i.e. to say "let's make sure to bring in the people who are good at architecture--" then I think at best, it's poorly articulated. It'd an odd move to post a comic that elevates his role and then not mention those people at all, right? Instead, he makes vague calls to "collaborate" and "align," which many people hear as "schedule meetings and do manager stuff," and then imply that that's how software gets architected, because... Conway's Law?
I still think it's nice of you to try to interpret it charitably, though. I imagine if we shared this thread with this manager, he probably wouldn't double down on how, no, really, Management are the real architects! He'd more likely pivot to echo much of what you've said, perhaps pretending that that was what he was saying all along.
Then we'd be free to argue about Conway's Law for the rest of the thread.