The good news is, as we found from pervious experience, that participants are often willing to talk about their experiences and the techniques they utilise in particular situations. This is true provided that they are asked while the experience is fresh in their minds. While it is difficult to get a quantitative account of the frequency of utilisation and effectiveness of each of these techniques, it is possible to measure these properties from their outward effects. The first step is to look for a coordination problem or a communication breakdown. If any actions utilised by the participants as they were faced with the problem and assess their effectiveness.
Some actions can cause new problems as they solve existing ones.
Since these communication problems are often multidimensional, care must be taken when grouping them into categories. For example, if we find that a given informal communication channel is effective in exchanging information and improving coordination, the process plans may be modified to prescribe the use of this channel and provide a mechanism for recording activities that flow through it. Once the empirical research findings are utilised and the process is modified we start all-over and go through the same cycle with the new changes in mind in order to assess their effectiveness. This makes effective communication very difficult to achieve. During my visit to SRL, I was impressed by the creative atmosphere and healthy emphasis of practicality and the potential applicability of most of the group's research efforts.