The link between product development performance and organisational structure, is an ongoing pursuit for the academic and business communities. The challenges of the 21st Century business environment force a poignant question: `is the choice of any one organisational structure over another really conducive to improvements in product development performance?' The `Working the Boundaries' research project undertakes an investigation into the feasibility of a boundary-based view to product development in the automotive industry. This paper sets the research context and presents a `tentative theory' that focuses on the importance of the informal organisation based on the network of interrelationships between product developers.