I like your semantic gap notion, however I am less convinced that overall mutual comprehension is the issue but rather the different issues of clarity of expression of vision (at the earlier/design stage), or clarity of interface (beginning at the implementation stage).

By way of example, there are many successful artistic projects that utilized the talents of multiple artists in parallel (lots of murals and mosaics, for instance).

In larger scale computing projects, frequently the (mechanics of the) interfaces provide bigger problems than the vision statement or overall goal, whereas in artistic projects indefinable aesthetics may be the shopstopper, despite perfect comprehension and collaboration.