I used to view them with disdain but at some point I had the idea that social and organizational engineering is also engineering and that wielding the system for one’s benefit is actually a skill.
I am not good at it but I need to call mastery where I see it.
Conway's Law is not a code smell to be avoided. Avoiding it is sisyphean, a band-aid, and nearly impossible.
Instead, Conway's Law is a way, indeed the only sustainable way, to choose the software structure.
These however exist and function, with or without my consent, and are less black and white than the weapons dealing metaphor. For example, a single mother in such an organization, if able to operate with influence, creates opportunities for her family and for her children’s futures. Nothing to do with the morality of arm dealing.
Character is what you are in the dark.