Google Wave - looks promising for project collaboration

[Fluvial]

Google is developing a new method of communication they're calling Wave. article here. This looks very promising to me for project collaboration. Instead of using email with "reply all" when communicating back and forth with project team members, one can start a "wave" which will include everyones replies and discussions.

One nice feature is the ability to insert comments anywhere in the wave. For example, with email, if you want to respond to separate portions of someone's email, you have to snip the text apart. With Wave, you just click inside the text and insert your comment.

You can also insert pictures, which strikes me as a good way to send snips of drawing details to folks for review & comment.

Also it'd be great for document collaboration. People can make changes in real time, which are highlighted to show what was done, and tagged to show who made the changes. If you happen to get invited to a wave after some editing has been done, there is a cool little playback feature to show you what has transpired.

There is a demo video here. It's rather long - I had to watch it a bit at a time while doing something else.

I'm going to be watching this one. Sign up for updates here.

 

[Fluvial]

Did any of y'all ever get an invite to this? I got mine and have been playing around with it, it's very cool. Anybody waving, let me know and we can start an EB wave.

 

[MonteBiker]

Did any of y'all ever get an invite to this? I got mine and have been playing around with it, it's very cool. Anybody waving, let me know and we can start an EB wave.

I have an account...

 

[Fluvial]

I've sent you a PM.

Anyone else?

 

[cement]

I just sent them a request. I have been using plain old google docs for the HS debate judges and that works great!

 

[MonteBiker]

It looks like I have one more invite left. I can invite one more and then we can get 10 more invites through that person. Let me know if you are interested.

 

[Fluvial]

Ok, I've started an EB wave and added Monte.

cement, when you get your Wave address, PM either Monte or me and either one of us can add you.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Will one of you shoot an invite my way. wilheldp (at) gmail

 

[MonteBiker]

Will one of you shoot an invite my way. wilheldp (at) gmail

That was my last invitation so you should get it shortly. They will probably give you 10 invites that should help get more of the group on... Let us know when you are up and running.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

That was my last invitation so you should get it shortly. They will probably give you 10 invites that should help get more of the group on... Let us know when you are up and running.

Will do...I'll share the love.

 

[IlPadrino]

Will do...I'll share the love.

Will someone please invite sabina.urzi YouKnowWhat gmail.com? Thanks!

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Will someone please invite sabina.urzi YouKnowWhat gmail.com? Thanks!

I will as soon as I figure out if I have any invites to send out, and if so, how I would do so.

 

[IlPadrino]

I will as soon as I figure out if I have any invites to send out, and if so, how I would do so.

Thanks! Invite arrived. Anyone need me to pay it forward?

 

[roadwreck]

Hmmmm...

...I'm intrigued, but the whole "instant messaging" aspect to it has me a little concerned. I'm on a computer so much that email is almost like instant messenger for me at this point anyway, but at least with email I don't feel like I have to reply right away. When someone sends me an instant message I feel obliged to respond quickly. That can get very distracting.

 

[Fluvial]

Roadwreck, unless you open the wave to read the messages, it won't bother you. Think of it like this: each wave is a conversation. You can open the wave and read it or post messages to it. If you don't open it, you will just see a little indicator that tells you how many new messages are in it. It isn't like IM which blinks at you or pops windows up.

You'll have a window which lists all the waves you're participating in; that kind of looks like an email screen showing you a list of emails. Instead of emails they're waves.

Have you looked at the demo video?

 

[roadwreck]

Have you looked at the demo video?

I can't from the office, youtube is blocked. I'll have to remember to check it out at home later. I am interested, I like most products google puts out.

 

[Fluvial]

I think this would be an excellent tool for project collaboration. I know that I've repeated myself about that a lot. But, considering how much email goes back-and-forth nowadays ... I know that often I can't seem to find that 'one particular email' where I either spec'd something to somebody or them me ... and I can't seem to find it! This would eliminate that, by having all the messages in one wave. And you could add all the design team members to the wave, so that everyone involved can keep up with what's happening. Add the ability to attach documents and images and we may get out of going to so many meetings.