I’m ready to ride the Wave (the Google Wave, that is)

This morning I watched the adult (geek?) version of Saturday morning cartoons: a presentation by Google introducing it’s new communication/collaboration technology called Google Wave.  To sum up my opinion of this uber-hyped technology:  Bring it on!

During my time wearing the project manager hat over the past several years, I’ve repeatedly experienced the stress associated with managing team communications that Google Wave is designed to relieve.  As someone obsessed with keeping a team aligned, sharing team contributions so other team members can build upon them, and preventing redundant effort and communication, I’ve tried moving email chains to a discussion board; drafting documents on Wikis; and having team members post their notes to a blog.  The challenge I’ve faced is that these tools are disjointed, lack real-time collaboration, and are far removed from the work flow for many team members (at the time, I was also limited to enterprise-hosted Microsoft SharePoint).  Email is so easy to use and pervasive that it even becomes the standard for document collaboration, with rev-after-rev of attached documents and spreadsheets flying between team members.  Google Wave is the first product I’ve seen that could clearly overcome these ease-of-use issues and truly become the central point of team communication and collaboration.

Looking forward to the day when Google Wave crosses the tipping point so I can lead teams more efficiently!