Current groupware systems do not fully match the work life of organizational work groups. A multidisciplinary literature analysis was conducted to identify important work group characteristics. This article proposes a set of generic groupware design requirements based on this analysis. These requirements include the need to support multiple tasks and work methods, group development, interchangeable interaction, multiple behaviors, permeable boundaries, and context. Examples of commercial and research groupware systems illustrate the practical implementation issues of each requirement. We conclude that developers need to invent interoperable groupware that provides interchangeable and customizable features through new design metaphors and database structures.