CONCEPT
Boundary Object
An artifact flexible enough to be <em>usable by multiple communities of practice</em> — interpreted and deployed differently by each — while robust enough to maintain coherent identity across community boundaries.
The boundary object is Wenger's (and originally Leigh Star and Griesemer's 1989) name for the artifacts through which different communities of practice coordinate their work without requiring mutual understanding. A budget document is read as constraints by finance and as resources by engineering. A product specification is read as user experience by designers and as technical requirements by engineers. The same document works as a coordination mechanism precisely because it accommodates multiple interpretations while maintaining enough structure that all parties recognize they are working with the same object. In the AI age, large language models have become the most powerful boundary objects the organizational world has produced — and the most dangerous, because their smoothness conceals the boundaries they appear to dissolve.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Effective boundary objects live in the space between rigidity and vagueness. A specification too rigid admits only one interpretation and cannot accommodate the different perspectives it is meant to coordinate. A specification too vague provides no coordination at