Communication cost of cognitive co-operation for distributed team development

Abstract

Current team development approaches only focus on work co-operation and resource sharing. Cognitive co-operation has not been paid enough attention, while it becomes more important than ever when the development team is geographically distributed. This paper identifies five types of Internet-based communication approaches for cognitive co-operation among distributed team members: the email-based approach; the blackboard-centred approach; the pure flow-based approach; the combination between the flow-based approach and the email-based approach; and the combination between the flow-based approach and the blackboard-centred approach. The communication costs of these approaches are defined and compared based on a set of assumptions. These comparisons provide the development teams or the designers of team wares the evidence and the method for choosing a suitable cognitive co-operation approach.