Two Ways Of Communicating: Peer To Peer And Broadcast

When talking about communication in projects we are all familiar with peer-to-peer, one person talking to another person, or mailing or shouting or sending pigeons. You have a sender and a receiver you can identify, a sender has to locate a receiver before it can initiate communication. Especially when the project is viewed as a collection of social interactions between agents, this type of communication is emphasized.

This is only half the story. We also have “the broadcast”.

Image by salsipuedes.

When the city of Gotham needs Batman, they will project the Bat-logo high into the sky for everybody to see. Including Batman himself. Wherever he will be, he will get the information without a doubt (Unless it is clouded, he is locked in the Batcave, or gets problems with his eye-sight). The lesson from Batman is: to get information to people without locating them first, put it central enough so the chances that they get it, increases.

With broadcast the sender can (more or less) be identified, but the group of potential receivers might be quite large and unknown.

A great concept of its application can be found within the agile community that provides us with the concept of “information radiators“. “An information radiator is a large display of critical team information that is continuously updated and located in a spot where the team can see it constantly… Information radiators help amplify feedback, empower teams and focus a team on work results.” says AgileAdvice.

You can see some great examples in this article about Kanban boards.

Because of its “in your face” location it coordinates the movements of the team automatically. Team members can see instantly what they have to do next. This process is transparent, all the team members have the same information and therefor the same view on project reality. The social process of the team takes care that people who are lacking behind are assisted to keep up the pace, and if someone is taking a wrong turn the teams collective intelligence can be used to correct this. Information radiators are all about feedback, empowerment and focus.

But the group of receivers is not just the team. “… information radiators generally serve to inform people outside the project team,” writes Alistair Cockburn in his book “Crystal Clear“. “It is the people outside the team who want or need to know that information in order to make their own decisions and otherwise would interrupt the team to get that information…”