Communication cost of cognitive co-operation for distributed team development

Current team development approaches only focus on work co-operation and res ource sharing. Cognitive co-operation has not been paid enough attention, w hile it becomes more important than ever when the development team is geogr aphically distributed. This paper identifies five types of Internet-based c ommunication approaches for cognitive co-operation among distributed team m embers: the email-based approach; the blackboard-centred approach; the pure flow-based approach; the combination between the flow-based approach and t he email-based approach; and the combination between the flow-based approac h and the blackboard-centred approach. The communication costs of these app roaches are defined and compared based on a set of assumptions. These compa risons provide the development teams or the designers of team wares the evi dence and the method for choosing a suitable cognitive co-operation approac h. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.