Why users should give Google Wave another chance

By Andy Stettler

Chief Blogger

When I first received my Google Wave invitation last November I was ecstatically excited. After a month of tweeting Wave hash tags, begging for an invite, I was finally able to get a feel for what Software Engineering Manager Lars Rasmussen and Google Wave Product Manager Stephanie Hannon had demoed in front of Google staff during the Day 2 Keynote of Google I/O.

I had expected a browser application that would allow me to manage all of my social networks, email, documents and means of communication into a one-stop super app. But the truth became clear by the end of my first weekend with Wave that the tool did allow users to do all of the above, but not conveniently. I received my invite on a Saturday morning. By Sunday night I had decided Google Wave just wasn't practical and I wasn't going to use it.

Six months later, I'm reassessing that truth. I've realized that the trouble wasn't that Wave was impractical, the problem was that I didn't have a use for Wave at the time.

Google Wave is made for real-time communication and collaboration. During the Ben Franklin Project, we used Google Wave to connect two of Montgomery Media's two offices, one in Fort Washington, Pa. and another in Souderton, Pa.

Through Google Wave five staff members were able to connect, collaborate and produce an initial press release explaining the project to the public. In a sense, Google Wave not only allowed our team to collaboratively create the project's description, it also worked as a foreshadow to evoke the idea that we would be using new and free technology to connect and create throughout the entire project.

Why Google Docs was not enough
Initially, we began writing our ideas for the press release into a Google Doc but quickly found that the tool was insufficient in that we had to save the doc in order to alert other staff members that we had made changes or updated the doc. We couldn't just type something in the document and rest assured that the other team members would see the changes.

However, let me be clear that we did use Google Docs for almost everything else during the project. It replaced Microsoft Word and Apple Pages during story production. However, when we needed something that could support our need to collaborate in real-time, from different locations, Google Wave worked in our favor.

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New templates to improve the way we Wave

In addition to using "blank documents" on Google Wave, the tool now offers a number of other templates users can work with.

Brainstorm

When you're working with a team of staff on a specific project, use the brainstorm template to produce a list of ideas. As the template suggests, "encourage wild ideas" and "defer judgement." This is a place for creativity, use the discussion template to breakdown your ideas and to decide what is realistic. Note: The brainstorm template offers a visual box that allows users to draw logos, page designs and anything similar.

Discussion

The discussion template can be used in the next step of your brainstorming process. Use the discussion template as a place to differentiate which of your past ideas are worth pursuing and which should go down the shoot. Users can offer the brainstorm ideas or "proposals" while other users can vote in favor or against the idea.

Task Tracking

Use the Task Tracking Template to record what needs to be done in order to put your ideas to work. Users can arrange jobs by priority (high, medium, low, not going to do) using the Wave as a place to come back to in order to see what is next on the agenda.

Meeting

Use the Meeting Template to create agendas for meetings. These Waves, when shared with other team members, help to provide a structure to your meetings. Write who will be attending, what needs to be discussed and what jobs need to be done (refer to your Task Tracking Wave).

Have an addition to our report on Google Wave? Send us an email at AndyStettler@Gmail.com.