Prior research has found that teams using computer-mediated communication (CMC) often make poor decisions because team members fail to pay attention to the information they receive from others. We developed a process designed to focus team members’ attention on one aspect of decision-making at a time. We divided the group decision-making process into three phases: 1) an initial period to contribute information, 2) a middle period of silence (i.e., no typing) to read others’ contributions, and 3) a final period to discuss the information. We designed a lab experiment to compare the information processing and decision-making of teams using this text-based CMC process to teams using text-based CMC with no intervention. Teams that used this CMC process contributed more information, recalled more information, committed fewer errors, and made better decisions. The effect sizes were large, about two times greater than the average effect sizes for the use of CMC. An examination of this new process suggests that it improved decision quality mostly by helping teams avoid errors.

Recent information technology (IT) developments have enabled cities to collect and disseminate large amounts of data to improve their public services delivery. “Smart cities” allow the public sector to leverage IT infrastructure and smart devices to increase the value of services delivered to the community. Our exploratory qualitative study involved the examination of secondary data and interviews with public administration personnel at the City and County of Denver. We used the social capital perspective and literature on knowledge transfer to interpret the empirical material and derive abstractions. We found that the Living Lab methodology adopted within the Smart City initiative facilitated a number of outcomes, including improved collaboration and innovation. Specifically, the “fail-fast” mentality was a characteristic of the Denver Living Lab that improved innovation.