A Taxonomy for Collaborative Design

A taxonomy that classifies issues affecting the collaborative design process is proposed. These factors, which may inhibit or facilitate the progress or success of a design team, provide a description of collaborative design situations. The taxonomy includes top-level attributes of team composition, communication, distribution, design approach, information, and nature of the problem. An example collaborative design situation is used to illustrate the application of the taxonomy. This taxonomy is an initial step towards the creation of new collaborative support agent-based tools structured upon a fundamental understanding of the collaborative process with a theoretical foundation.