Now let's back up and reflect on what we've done.

     Conway’s law is based on this idea: if Team A and Team B are going to build subsystems that work together, then the two teams must agree on an interface specification.

     If the two teams understand the same technology and language, then the interface requires no translation (above the dotted line).

          But the two subsystems can be very different, AND the two development teams might not even understand each other. Then the interface must be understandable to both sides.

     I call that a translating interface (below the dotted line). An example is a microprocessor instruction set, which connects the worlds of semiconductor engineers and programmers.

     Software APIs are typically non-translating; they assume there are programmers on both sides of the interface. But that's not true for the Visual API; on the right are non-programming business people.