May. 31, 2009 - Standing on the Beach: Google "Wave"

 

I’m not a software developer—heck, I’m not even a real geek. I’m just a dedicated user of the stuff, and my creative juices start to flow when I see how new applications might be used to solve problems and – often – to create new ones. I love downloading all those little programs that do specific things that I think I can’t live without, like insert my credit card number at the click of a mouse or dive through my sent emails looking for a keyword or phrase.

Lars, my favorite uber-geek, is fond of screeching, “Lindenau, if you didn’t have all that crap on your computer…” (select one):

a.       “You could fit this new program on your hard drive”

b.      “Your computer would work twice as fast”

c.       “Your computer would work”

So it’s no surprise that right up there in my information cloud  is a new app, Google Wave.   I’m fascinated by what the program might be, how it might look to association managers, and—most importantly—how it’s being marketed. 

First, what is it? It’s been described by some as The Ultimate Mash-up. If that doesn’t mean much to you, consider what Google has said in a “Googlegram” (the answer to Rumor Control…could you have an Association-gram?): “A "wave" is equal parts conversation and document, where people can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.” That is to say, this one program blurs the lines between instant messaging, phone conversations, email, wikis, and desktop sharing—and does it in real time (you’ll be able to watch as someone types). 

Can you imagine how that might work for you? Let’s say you want to do something simple, like craft a motion among your board of directors. Who hasn’t spent yawn-filled moments a meeting listening to wordsmithing, secondary motions, amendments, arguments for and against phrases, and long personal history relevant and/or irrelevant to an idea? What Wave would let you do is build the motion as a group--revising, editing, adding footnotes, throwing in film clips or photos, inserting quotations and sources. You could watch the conversation happening (as in an online meeting) or peel back the layers of the product (using what’s called “playback”) to see who added what and when they did it. 

Now assume that you all worked on this project on-line, perhaps before the actual meeting, and everyone had the opportunity to contribute at a time of her own choosing. Or, suppose you needed to craft a new MLS rule about, say, Under Contract status. Or how much to have in cash reserves in your association treasury. Or what to do about some other thorny problem. You could assign the project to a committee, to an advisory work group, to the interested membership as a whole, and allow collaboration to do its work building an answer for the directors’ approval or perhaps a suggest approach for staff to handle a problem that has arisen. And in using this tool, the association has involved members in ways that meet their schedules and skill levels, and maximize the results of their involvement. No more stuffing poinsettias in vases for the Christmas party to demonstrate that you are committed to the work of the association….

Ok, so I envision Wave as a really valuable tool for associations, especially those plagued with members who are not content with decorating tables or serving on slow-moving committees.  I see Wave as a tool for getting meaningful work done using collaboration and encouraging communication among the association stakeholders. So why haven’t I downloaded it?

The answer is, “because I can’t”. Google has done a couple of things that contain some real lessons to be learned: most importantly, they’ve launched the Wave as a ‘developer preview’. What Google wants is to have an open-source program and encourage knowledgeable people to ‘tinker’ with it (Google’s word) before it’s released to the users. Google wants a whole cadre of pre-release users whose goal is not to be critics who find reasons NOT to like the program, but to be inventors whose goal is to make Wave better for everyone.

This approach has a couple of advantages: first, it’s an exercise in viral marketing—all those users creating buzz about the program as THEY work collaboratively on it. Secondly, there’s a meaningful, hands-on Beta release of the product. Thirdly, those of us who are potential consumers are now chafing at the bit, anticipating Wave. “Hurry up!” we scream, and Google replies, “Give us a few months. We won’t tell you when you can have it, but we’ll put you on our mailing list. Oh, and don’t worry—by the time it’s ready it will be worth waiting for.”

So, yes, I’m on the waiting list, feeding on my supply stream of emailed GoogleGrams and developer-created buzz, knowing that Google Wave is certainly going to be the answer to my association management problems. And I’m thinking, “Wow! Wish the our association members anticipated the new MLS program (or the education course, or the professional designation, or the trade show, or the new lockboxes) with this much enthusiasm and anticipation….