Osmotic Communication

Osmotic communication refers to useful information that flows between team members when they are working in close proximity and they overhear each other's conversations.

Alistair Cockburn defines osmotic communication as “information that flows into the background hearing of members of the team, so that they pick up relevant information as though by osmosis.” Since this initial definition, it's come to mean more than this, for example the inclusion non-verbal communication, reading body language and picking up on other no-verbal cues.

It is argued that osmotic communication makes communication costs low and response speeds high, so errors are corrected extremely quickly and knowledge is disseminated rapidly.

Historically this was one of the primary reasons for colocating agile team members. It's also considered important as a lighweight technique to manage knowledge atrophy.

Do we want more or less?

Osmotic communication has long been seen as an essential ingredient of a functional workplace.

However, some people argue that "An osmotic event is a failure or breakdown in communication that could have led to issues but was averted by pure accident or coincidence. It occurs when a company either lacks a plan for handling certain communication, the plan is not followed, or the plan is inadequate." [1]