Norman discusses shared tasks and how communication and synchronization of task information is also shared while the people involved are not aware that the sharing is occurring. Working groups operate as a type of distributed intelligence with much of the people's behavior taking place through a cooperative process with other people. Their communication and decision making take place in the context established by their physical environment, not separated from the real world.

The author best illustrates his point by comparing aircraft cockpits. In a Boeing 747 cockpit, the control wheels are yoked together. The pilot and copilot receive immediate communication and awareness of changes resulting from control wheel movements. In an Airbus cockpit, the control wheels are reduced to small joysticks on the left and right side of the cockpit. These joysticks operate independently and concurrently, and have been the cause of cockpit errors where either both pilots were trying to control the plane or neither pilot had control of the plane. This is a great example of interrupted shared task communications that is a result of disembodied intelligence. Decisions are made from incomplete information that result in errors.

The chapter admonishes us to be sensitive to the social communications in work environments. As an external consultant entering a work setting, your recommendations, models, and implementations may disrupt the informal communication channels that cause work to proceed smoothly. The result is disruption of work performance and productivity. This chapter has strong implications for human performance technology (HPT) professionals, especially for people developing electronic performance support systems.