Facilitating collaboration through contract visualization and modularization

Motivation -- To change the way contracts are perceived, designed and communicated in order to improve their usability as tools for inter-firm collaboration. Research approach -- Work-in-progress: a literature review and interviews with participating companies will be used to determine the detailed research plan and the design of the prototypes and tests that will follow. Findings/Design -- Preliminary results and discussions with participating companies suggest that tremendous opportunities exist for improving the ergonomics and usability of complex commercial contracts through visualization and modularization. New tools and approaches are needed to change researchers' and business managers' attitudes towards contracts. Visualization and modularization seem to offer such tools. Further approaches from the field of cognitive ergonomics are welcome to be explored in our research. Take away message -- Contracts are not just legal documents, they are artefacts designed by people for people in order to succeed in collaborative ventures. The time has come to turn cross-professional research teams' attention to improving the usability and communication of inter-firm contracts.

[1]  Eric A. Posner,et al.  ProCD v. Zeidenberg and Cognitive Overload in Contractual Bargaining , 2009 .

[2]  R. Bird,et al.  Promoting Business Success Through Contract Visualization , 2011 .

[3]  H. Margolis.  Visual explanations: Images and quantities, evidence and narrative , 1998 .

[4]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  Modularity and Innovation in Complex Systems , 2002, Manag. Sci..

[5]  Kyle J. Mayer,et al.  Learning to Contract: Evidence from the Personal Computer Industry , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[6]  Scott J. Burnham.  How to Read a Contract , 2003 .

[7]  Helena Haapio,et al.  Using Proactive Law for Competitive Advantage , 2010 .

[8]  John Hagedoorn,et al.  Contractual Complexity and the Cognitive Load of R&D Alliance Contracts: Contractual Complexity and R&D Alliance Contracts , 2009 .

[9]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Design Rules: The Power of Modularity Volume 1 , 1999 .

[10]  Edward R. Tufte,et al.  Envisioning Information , 1990 .

[11]  John Hagedoorn,et al.  Contractural complexity and the cognitive load of R&D alliance contracts , 2008 .

[12]  E. Tufte.  Beautiful Evidence , 2006 .

[13]  Eric A. Posner,et al.  Simplicity and Complexity in Contracts , 2000 .

[14]  HERBERT A. SIMON,et al.  The Architecture of Complexity , 1991 .

[15]  Helena Haapio,et al.  Using Proactive Law for Competitive Advantage: Using Proactive Law for Competitive Advantage , 2010 .

[16]  John K. Gershenson,et al.  Product modularity: Definitions and benefits , 2003 .

[17]  B. Marx.  The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , 1985 .

[18]  Henry E. Smith.  Modularity in Contracts: Boilerplate and Information Flow , 2006 .

[19]  Kyle J. Mayer,et al.  Contract design as a firm capability: An integration of learning and transaction cost perspectives , 2007 .

[20]  O. Neurath,et al.  From Hieroglyphics to Isotype: A Visual Autobiography , 2010 .