Making the most of Google Wave

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Google Wave is a new web-based collaborative application that allows groups of people to work on the same document, known as “waves”. It’s free, it’s simple to use and can really open up your business communications in ways you hadn’t imagined.

Google Wave, the collaborative, web-enabled word processor

Back in November last year, I wrote an article for Marketing Donut about Google Wave, outlining various ways to improve business communication:

“We’ve all played email tennis, either with friends, family or business colleagues. That’s fine, if you have the time. If you’re working on a proposal document and you’re using Word, you can bounce revisions around forever and a day. That’s also fine, if you’ve got the time. Problem is, time is a premium asset these days and if you want to get the most out of your time, you need to save as much of it as possible. And what time you do use, you do so as efficiently as possible — that’s where Google’s new collaborative communication tool comes in.”

But I thought I’d offer another perspective; outlining how I Octane uses Google Wave to collaborate with Emily Cagle, my communications partner.

I saw the potential in Wave very early on and could see that it would be ideal for Emily (who handles my PR) and myself to use, and here’s how we use it:

  1. I write articles for my blog as well as business publications; I “ping” Emily when I’m into the first draft stage;
  2. then she goes through the wave and makes sure the theme and style are aligned with the house style of the publication in question;
  3. I revise, if required (expanding upon / trimming etc);
  4. finally, she checks for typos, grammar etc, sends the article to the publication and then we go live.

3 example scenarios for using Google Wave

In addition to using Wave for writing articles, you could use it use it for:

  • team brainstorming sessions, sharing visuals, photos etc;
  • project management, where you could conference call via Skype and divvy up task to team members;
  • internal communications, for listing key client / customers telephone numbers, email addresses etc, that everyone can update.

There are some things we’d like to see in Wave (such as more list type options, better undo support, for example), but we’re getting a lot of milage out of it already. So any new features would most likely just make things even better for us.

Google Wave is invite-only, and I have several to give away. If you’d like an invite, please leave a comment below, using your preferred email address (added into the email field, which only I will see) and I’ll send you an invite!

Octane Interactive on Facebook

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Octane Interactive now has it’s very own Page on Facebook.

FacebookFacebook is fast becoming a valuable first step for any business entering into the realm of social media, forming a hub to their network of contacts from all over the world, enabling them to share ideas, collaborate on projects and expose their businesses to a huge audience, numbering in the tens of millions.

So what’s in it for you? From the Octane Page, I’ll be:

  • sharing links to quality business resources;
  • links to Octane’s very own articles;
  • offering advice, tips and how-to guides;
  • as well as suggestions for your website…

… all of which will be fed straight into your news feed, interwoven with my very own commentary.

If you’ve got any questions, such as how to sell your products and / or services through your website, or how to securely share company data across the web with your colleagues, feel free to ask and I’ll do my best to answer.

Go to the Octane Page on Facebook and become a fan right now!

Perhaps you’re new to social media and want to know more? Download my free ebook: The Beginner’s Guide Social Media right now…

Smallman’s 3 laws of energy conservation

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Working hard? That’s great! Good for you. However, working smart is better. The trick is knowing when to work hard and when to work smart. Get it wrong, and you’re just wasting time, and end up doing neither.

Automated versus Manual processing

A few weeks ago, a client of mine asked me if I could automate the processing of a list of data. I asked her to send me the list. In total, there were just over 30 items. My advice was to just process the whole thing manually. She wasn’t pleased, but worked her way through the list.

I’m a PHP developer, which means I can write all kinds of things for the web — everything from a simple scripts that automate response forms for websites, right up to full-blown web applications, that process vast amounts of commercially sensitive data.

So, depending on the circumstances, I can write small scripts to batch process things like lists. My client knows that I’m a programmer, which is why she asked about some automatic way of processing her list. But the thing is, I had to invoke Smallman’s first law of energy conservation:

“1st law — If you’re dealing with a single array (or column) of data that’s less than 100 items, do it manually. Beyond that (more than 100 items, or a list of multiple arrays), automate it, so long as it’s possible to do so in a fraction of the time it would take to process the list of data in its entirety manually.”

But my laws don’t just apply to processing data, they also apply to images / photographs, for example. Adobe Photoshop has some excellent batch processing tools.

Let’s say I have 10 images that need resizing, given my experience, I could probably do them manually in the time it would take to set up a batch process in Photoshop. But let’s say I have 10 high resolution images that need re-sizing, their colour profiles changing from RGB to CMYK, and then saving as JPEGs. At that point, it’s more than likely I’d save some time automating the whole thing — especially if there’s a chance of me repeating the process at some later date.

This is where I’d have a conversation with the client, asking them if there’s a chance I’d be repeating this process at some point.

Write once, process many times

Even though you’re solving a problem (not just for yourself but you’re client), it’s not the best way of spending your time. So even though you’ve automated a process, the client is still coming back to you with Microsoft Excel files or emails full of photographs, asking you to process them all.

Here’s where I take my automated process and turn the whole thing into a small web application, where the client can do the processing themselves:

“2nd law — If there’s any chance that an automated process will be repeated, give the power to the client (write an application or script) and let them process their own data.”

Of course, this might not apply to digital imagine processing, although there are ways of doing this, but the cost become prohibitive.

By handing the power to your client, you’re adding value to your service. At the same time, your time is freed up to do more meaningful things. By all means, charge the client for the effort you made handing the power to them, but make sure you explain the cost savings they’ll be making over time.

Let’s say the client needs to change the data in a table on a web page. Initially, I’ll do this manually. As time passes, the table gets bigger, with more columns. At some point, it’s just not practical for me to do this manually any more. This is where I write a script that allows the client to upload a .csv file and upload the table themselves.

A problem shared is a problem out-sourced

Have you ever been asked to do something that’s either right at the edge of your skill set, or just plain out of reach? Of course, it’s tempting to swat up and try doing it yourself. And good on you! However, in the meantime, there’s a deadline to meet, on top of which, are you actually making any money doing this?

“3rd law — If in performing an activity that’s not a core service you’re likely to lose money and / or exceed a deadline, out-source the work, or delegate to someone with the requisite skills.”

If this is something totally new to you, and it’s got an appreciable learning curve, there’s a better than average chance you’re not making a profit. Also, there’s no guarantee the quality will be sufficiently high enough to meet the exacting standards of your client. Worse still, you might not get the work done in time.

Of course, choosing to out-source or delegating the work to a colleague is no silver bullet, so it’s all about selecting the right person to execute the work for you. In the end, it’s better to get the work done right and on time than not at all.

If you think there’s a good chance of there being more of the same work in the future, there’s a good argument for learning on your own time and getting good enough to take the work on. But that’s your choice.

Working smart and not hard

I see so many people squander huge amounts of time, it’s unreal. They might feel they’ve done a good days work, but working hard is not nearly as rewarding as working smart, so long as you do it right.

If you’ve got your own tips for working smart, feel free to share them here…

So you want a website, right?

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This might come as something of a shock, given that I’m a web designer and developer, but the first few questions I ask a prospective new client are designed to determine whether they actually need a website at all. I know, weird, eh?

Anyway, the thing is, there’s a surprising number of businesses out there who feel pressured into particular marketing activities, just because that’s what their competitors are doing. If I must sound like your dad, chiding you for doing the self same thing as one of your daft friends: would you walk off a cliff if they did?

Wayne Smallman and Octane on Twitter

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So you’ve found me, Wayne Smallman, on Twitter and became curious about myself, Octane Interactive and wanted to know more.

So who’s Wayne Smallman and what does Octane do?

Wayne Smallman is many things, but he is mostly known for his writing, his designing and his web development.

Wayne Smallman, managing director and owner of Octane InteractiveTo pay the bills, Octane is a provider of web design & development and internet marketing services to a variety businesses of all shapes and sizes, scattered hither & yonder around the British isles, of which case studies are available for your perusal.

As for the writing, I, Wayne Smallman am the man behind the Blah, Blah! Technology blog — a mixture of science, technology and social media commentary and how-to guides (amongst many other things), all wrapped in my own unique style of opinion, observation, dark humour, all underpinned by an unbending faith in the soul of humanity.

I also write business support and advice articles right here on Octane, via my blog — less so the inimitable commentary and more a series of practical guides to help you steer your business through calmer waters, based upon my own years of experience, beginning in 1999, which is the year when Octane was founded.

In addition, I write for a growing number of publications (both printed and electronic), sharing the aforementioned knowledge and experience further afield.

I’m also the author of the popular ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media, which has been downloaded many hundreds of times by an eclectic mix of people from all over the world, eager to learn more about social media, and how it may benefit their businesses.

What’s your Twitter follow policy?

Twitter, the global social networkThe question itself might be a little misleading if you’re new to Twitter. When you follow someone — or at least when I do — I don’t expect those people to automatically follow me back.

As in life, we don’t always find that we have that much in common with the people we meet, or we feel that the person that just followed us isn’t adding the right kind of ideas, thoughts and observations to our stream of Twitter updates.

As an example, if you’re an up-and-coming singer / songwriter and you were to buy the latest album of a famous singer, would you expect them to return the gesture? Of course not, because that’s not how it works.

I’m neither famous, nor am I singer. But the fact of the matter is, we are all different and to reciprocate for the sake of reciprocation is disingenuous.

So I might not follow you back if you follow me. And of course, the opposite holds true, too. Obviously, some people feel very differently about this, but this is my Twitter follow policy, and I’ve at least demonstrated my honesty on the subject, if nothing else.

Ideally, we’ll have many things in common, so here are a few things I look for before I follow anyone, or follow back:

  1. A profile bio that tells me something about you, what you do and what you’re interested in.
  2. A link to a website or blog that tells me more about you what you do.
  3. Plenty of updates, so I know you’re an active Twitterer.
  4. We both speak the same language, i.e.: English.

So is Twitter the place to be?

That really depends on what you want from Twitter. I could go into all kinds of detail, but ultimately, you need to know what you want from a thing before you invest time & effort in it — which, incidentally, is where my social media ebook might prove useful, if you’re in any doubt.

Facebook is another social network which you could also join, but it is a quite different venue to Twitter, in the sense that it isn’t public; your network of friends is closed to external sources.

Twitter commands a huge audience, so your efforts are as well spent there. So if you’re hoping to form allegiances, find friends and allies, or you simply wish to learn from those in your industry, Twitter is the place for you.

What now?

That’s as open ended a question as you could ever hope to ask! If you haven’t already, you could follow me on Twitter and join the conversation. And finally, thank you for your time. Always a pleasure.