Future:Media:Change

"My friends/contacts don't have accounts" ranked as the top complaint of Google Wave users

I couldn’t let Amil have all the Google Wave fun, so time for me to chime in. Google recently published some of their Google Wave user survey results. The most obvious finding is that Google WaveGoogle Wave is more fun with your friends. This was to be expected, but it highlights the reality that Wave will run up against the same brick wall that renders most collaboration tools useless in organizations: Adoption.

I’ve used several systems with diverse users over the past few years. Each time I’ve watched the system fall apart, because one user was not taking part (okay, usually more than one). The goal of collaboration tools is to move the conversation out of the inbox where knowledge is often lost — hard to find and even harder to share. However, one user who requires information sent to their E-mail, or worse, says, “I didn’t see that doc…What intranet!?” can ruin the whole communication system.

Wave promises to create more shareable knowledge while combining all forms of communication including E-mail, chat, SMS, video, and even voice calls. Yet, Wave has launched missing the two most important pieces of success: 1. Adoption — Only a few users have access. 2. E-mail Integration — there is no way to continue conversation that started on E-mail (even Gmail!), and there is now way to use E-mail to include someone without Wave access (see point 1).

It is understandable that Google wants to beta test the tool and register the feedback of early-adopters as they have done with the survey. However, this strategy worked well for GmailGmail because everyone you wanted to communicate with didn’t also need a Gmail invite. You could still E-mail your friends on Yahoo!, Hotmail, or their work E-mail address. Right now, Wave is adding another space workers need to check — it is making their workflow more cumbersome, not less.

Early-adopters like me (and probably you if you are reading this) will flock to new tools like Wave searching for something to make our lives a bit easier and our inboxes thinner. Yet, the majority of people in your organization will not understand the value of Wave until they see its value.  It is a bit of a Catch-22, they need to see how it will make their life easier, but they won’t unless everyone is on Wave. The best way forward is to have a very focused group and pilot project that investigates and illuminates how Wave will make your organization work better. A small group religiously using Wave and then presenting the findings can be the difference between the “Web Heads” grumbling they can’t get their bosses on the new tool, or the entire staffing begging for an invite.

One of the issues that was missing from the survey, but seems to get many complaints is the live-typing feature. This feature allows other people on a Wave to see what you are typing as you type. Farhad Manjoo explains the issue on slate, and give insight into why this feature makes Wave not ready for  Prime time as a tool for businesses:

As we went back and forth, I had a tiny epiphany. I wanted to tell Zach that I thought Wave would have a much tougher time catching on than Twitter, because it was asking so much more of its users. The trouble is, everything you type into Wave is transmitted live, in real time—every keystroke was getting sent to Zach just as I hit it. This made me too self-conscious to get my thoughts across.

The Google Wave preview video identified live-typing as an optional feature that could be turned on and off, but no such luck yet. It serves as a perfect example of both Google Wave’s promise and problems. The great thing about Wave is that its API is so open that the future of Wave will largely depend on us. A good investment for Google.