This paper addresses the problem of cooperation between team members by describing two dimensions of elements, namely the physical and abstract dimension, to be focused on by all participants of a systems development team. A conceptual framework is introduced which describes these two dimensions. In the second part of the paper the nature of and theory behind sound relationships between team members of software projects are examined. The conceptual framework shows the position and relationship of each element during systems development process. This conceptual framework helps managers to understand the complexity of such relationships and it gives a structured view of the role of the elements of the two dimensions during systems development.