# How to Choose

Two ways:

1. **Evaluating tradeoffs, ideally with some kind of data.** Every configuration has tradeoffs, and there (probably) is no such thing as a single perfect design. A default-matrix organization will be deeply in-sync for major global initiatives, but will have a hard time being customer-focused or inventing the next amazing thing. Autonomous units will be more customer-centered, but will be “messy” in comparison to a matrix. IMO the best data to inform different organization designs is *time allocation,* mostly because it’s our only non-renewable resource.
2. **Trying different alternatives and seeing what works** (which helps with option 1). This is *always happening* in organizations, but almost never with the kind of formality and intention that we’d like.

Why is this important? Because it defines the product we make. Tesla’s case, above, is a perfect illustration of Conway’s Law.

> 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

**Said differently: organization configures the product; organization design is product design.**