Communication & docs
コミュニケーションとドキュメントCOMM
How information is passed on: how much is said explicitly, what gets written down, meetings, and which language a team works in.
35 claimsWell attested 4Attested 14Thin 17
Related scales
These scales describe national averages that bear on this theme. They place countries relative to one another; they say nothing about any one engineer.
- Culture MapCommunicatingLow-context ↔ High-contextWhether good communication is explicit and literal, or layered and read between the lines.
- Culture MapPersuadingPrinciples-first ↔ Applications-firstWhether an argument starts from theory or from examples and conclusions.
- Culture MapTrustingTask-based ↔ Relationship-basedWhether trust comes from reliable work or from personal relationships.
Japan日本JP3 claims
South Korea韓国KR2 claims
On Meyer's Communicating scale, South Korea sits with Japan and Indonesia at the most high-context end.
Thin1 sourcekr-communication-1
One practitioner argues that when agile is imposed from the top while executives and middle managers keep their old thinking, the only result is a heavier load on the teams.
Thin1 sourcekr-communication-2
China中国CN4 claims
In 2022, the Beijing No. 3 Intermediate People's Court ruled that handling work on WeChat outside working hours counted as overtime and ordered the former employer to pay 30,000 yuan. In January 2024, the Supreme People's Court and other bodies published a similar case as a model case.
Attested2 sources2024cn-communication-1
ByteDance's Feishu (Lark) combines documents, meetings, chat and OKRs in one tool and is sold to outside companies as an "organizational operating system".
Attested1 sourcecn-communication-2
In the EF EPI 2024, China ranked 91st of 116 countries and regions (score 455), but city scores such as Beijing (518) and Shanghai (511) are far above the national figure.
Attested1 source2024cn-communication-3
A 2021 study of open source projects at Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent found that providing an English README was the most common internationalization measure.
Attested1 source2021cn-communication-4
IndiaインドIN2 claims
In the EF EPI 2024, India ranked 69th of 116 countries and regions. English is widely used as a working language, but India's rank on this test is mid-table.
Attested1 source2024in-communication-1
Explainers of Meyer's Trusting scale place India on the relationship-based side, where trust built through personal relationships is needed before work begins.
Thin1 sourcein-communication-2
United StatesアメリカUS4 claims
Meyer places the United States at the most low-context end of the Communicating scale. A book summary describes a preference for saying things explicitly and for repeating and summarizing key points.
Thin1 sourceus-communication-1
According to Bezos's 2017 shareholder letter, Amazon does not use PowerPoint. Meetings start with everyone silently reading a six-page narrative memo, and memos carry no author's name because they come from the whole team.
Well attested1 source2018us-communication-2
According to CNBC (2018), the practice began with a 2004 email from Bezos. He explained that a good four-page memo is harder to write than a 20-page slide deck because the narrative structure forces better thinking.
Attested1 source2018us-communication-3
According to a blog post by Slab, Stripe also rarely uses slides. Meetings begin with silent reading of a memo, followed by comments on the document.
Thin1 sourceus-communication-4
United KingdomイギリスUK3 claims
According to a book summary, the United Kingdom is on the low-context side of Meyer's Communicating scale but relies on context more than the United States, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Thin1 sourcegb-communication-1
"Make things open: it makes things better" is one of the government design principles, and publishing new source code is point 12 of the Service Standard. GDS explained the benefits of coding in the open in a 2017 blog post.
Well attested2 sources2017gb-communication-2
In 2015, Inside GOV.UK published a blog post describing what happens when something goes wrong on GOV.UK.
Well attested1 source2015Datedgb-communication-3
GermanyドイツDE3 claims
The Culture Map places Germany on the low-context side of Communicating. In Meyer's description, people say things explicitly, repeat points to confirm them, and prefer to put things in writing.
Attested1 source2014Datedde-communication-1
SUP.10 in Automotive SPICE requires change requests to be linked to the affected work products and analyzed in advance. In regulated industries, documentation is also a contractual requirement.
Well attested1 source2023de-communication-2
According to startuprad.io, English is the main working language at Berlin startups. Estimates of the share of foreign employees range from 30% to 49% depending on the source.
Thin1 source2026de-communication-3
FranceフランスFR1 claim
The Culture Map places France as more high-context than Germany (though less than China) on Communicating and more relationship-based than Germany on Trusting. In Meyer's framework, this means relying on shared context and building trust through relationships as well as work.
Attested1 source2014Datedfr-communication-1
The Nordics北欧NORD3 claims
A study guide to The Culture Map describes Finland as a low-context (explicit) culture, though less so than the United States.
Thin1 sourcenordics-communication-1
Poutiainen (Wiley encyclopedia, 2017) identifies three modes of Finnish communication: silence, a matter-of-fact asiallinen style that sticks to the business at hand, and talk about what it means to be Finnish.
Attested1 source2017nordics-communication-2
According to a summary of The Culture Map, Swedish consensus building relies on meetings and informal groundwork, and foreign managers can be puzzled by how much back-and-forth precedes a decision.
Thin1 sourcenordics-communication-3
NetherlandsオランダNL2 claims
On her Communicating scale, Meyer lists the Netherlands with the United States, Canada and Australia as examples of low-context (explicit) cultures.
Attested1 sourcenl-communication-1
The practical guide NL Compass says that Dutch workplaces take meeting agendas seriously and that fixing schedules in advance is the norm.
Thin1 source2026nl-communication-2
IsraelイスラエルIL2 claims
A review of The Culture Map classifies Israel as an unusual combination: high-context, yet direct with criticism.
Thin1 sourceil-communication-1
The share of private high-tech company employees working in Israel fell from 69% in 2019 to 62% in March 2026. Most of the rest work at overseas sites, mainly in the United States.
Attested1 source2026il-communication-2
BrazilブラジルBR2 claims
A summary of Meyer's Culture Map places Brazil on the side where trust is built through personal relationships, close to China and Saudi Arabia. Small talk at the start of a meeting is described as part of the work.
Thin1 sourcebr-communication-1
Talaera says written English tends to be on the formal side and asynchronous replies tend to be long and warm, and it recommends video calls over audio-only calls.
Thin1 source2026br-communication-2
PolandポーランドPL2 claims
Consultancy guides describe Polish business communication as relatively low-context and direct. They add that very blunt phrasing comes across as needlessly harsh, and that email tends to be more formal than chat.
Thin2 sources2026pl-communication-1
In the EF English Proficiency Index 2025, Poland ranked 15th of 123 countries and regions (score 600), in the top "Very high" band. Test takers are self-selected volunteers.
Attested1 source2025pl-communication-2
- EF EPI 2025: Poland (2025)
UkraineウクライナUA2 claims
An Alcor article citing DOU surveys says 66% of IT workers work fully remotely.
Thin1 source2026ua-communication-1
N-iX (2019) says formality at first meetings is a sign of respect, and that the one-to-two-hour time difference with Europe makes it easy to overlap working hours. This is a seller's description.
Thin1 source2019ua-communication-2