The literature previously has explained the design process from the individual perspective; however, it is limited in defining the key attributes of collaborative design groups. In addition, most of the work to date in the co-operative work environment has focused on developing exploratory systems and then testing these systems within some determined environment. This research examines some of the variables that influence distributed collaboration groups engaged in engineering tasks. Groups were investigated across face-to-face, video, and audio communication mediums to examine the collaborative communication process. Results indicate that there were no differences between face-to-face and video groups in their communications development. Audio groups were found to be significantly different that the face-to-face control groups. There was a relationship between the audio groups' communication development and conversational prop richness; however, this relationship did not exist for the face-toface and video media supported groups. These preliminary findings indicate that groups participating in an engineering project should communicate either in a face-to-face or video forum to ensure the engineering process is not altered from what is today standard practice.