As Google Wave stutter-steps through its odd introduction (although it's considered pre-Beta, enough people have access that the rest are feeling left out) users are still feeling their way around the utility of such a tool. "Stephanie" of the developer conference video describes Wave as "email if it were invented today," but I think that is a modest description. With its predisposition for collaboration and the right extensions, Wave has the opportunity to be so much more.
Project Management - Wouldn't it be cool if you could have a series of waves, linked to one main wave: one for requirements, one for development, one for testing...that would include all the conversations between the customers and the development team so that a detailed reference would be available throughout the dev process?College Class Groups - Collecting research, assigning roles, adding "virtual" group meetings and keeping track of tasks has the potential to be so much more organized within a single platform like Wave.Core Competency Groups - Corporations are always fighting "the silo effect;" the difficulty of sharing knowledge across departmental lines. Competency centers are one method for breaking down these lines, but even though the spirit may be willing, there is much strength to be gained from collaborative tools that make it easier to share best practices and ask questions.Process Improvement - I just saw this great video about how SAP Gravity has created an extension for Wave that exports into their full-featured client. This kind of hands-on interactivity provides real value.video
