Software Systems are more of an organic evolution than top-down “exact” design.

Conway’s law about systems - the system or product you are creating is limited by the organisational structure of the company and the way the structure communicates. The exact quote is the following:

“Organizations, who design systems, are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations” - M. Conway

Another good analogy is this:

“If you have four groups working on a compiler, you’ll get a 4-pass compiler”. - Eric S. Raymond.

This has impact in the way we look at systems. Just open the hood to any conventional gas or diesel engine, especially on an older car where you can see more of it, and see how complex and weirdly designed is.

This is the result of many years of improvement and the dynamics of working with many different suppliers across time.

All systems are evolutionary in nature, from software to mechanical engines, and each working system is unique once it’s being used.