Lessons from the failure of Google Wave

1. 2009 - †2010
Lessons from
Google Wave (and
the Iceberg).
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2. INTRO
New, Old Problems
- People assume that because we work in “new” media, we
have “new problems” (with design, clients, specification,
regulation etc.)
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3. The
Iceberg
- The Iceberg has become a metaphor for a failure. It's part of
our mythology.
- How does the newest, largest, and most technologically
advanced innovation, or the unsinkable, sink?
- 90/10 rule.
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4. COUNTDOWN
To Distaster
10 Reasons for the sinking of the Titanic.
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5. #10
The Iceberg
- The Iceberg.
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6. #9
The Captain
- Capt Smith did not reduce his speed, despite warnings.
- Under pressure to set new Trans-Atlantic speed record.
- Went down with ship.
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7. #8
The Wireless Officer
- Officer Philips.
- One radio channel at the time.
- While he did receive and pass on some iceberg warnings, he
asked the senders to stop transmitting them.
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8. #7
The Officer of the Deck
- Murdoch was the officer of the deck, another experienced
sailor.
- Once he heard the notice, “Iceberg, dead ahead,” he did
what he had been trained to do: he threw the engines in
reverse.
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9. #6
The Spec
- Researchers have discovered that the builders of the Titanic
struggled for years to obtain enough good rivets and
ultimately settled on faulty materials that doomed the ship.
- Issue was even discussed at every board meeting.
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10. #5
HR Problems
- The company faced constant skills shortage.
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11. #4
Safety & Regulation
- Inadequate number of lifeboats on board (only 16).
- At the time, lifeboat regulation based on the tonnage of
the ship.
- Changes imminent to a passenger-based system. The ship
owners opposed the change.
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12. #3
The Client
- The Titanic's designers planned double davits to
accommodate the extra lifeboats. Sketches for these were
found after the ship sank.
- However, owner Bruce Ismay decided not to add the extra
lifeboats since they would have cut down on the space on
the first class promenade deck, rather than prepare for a
disaster that would “never happen” on a ship with the
Titanic's technology.
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13. #2
The Lookout
- Fred Fleet, experienced seaman
- First to spot the iceberg ahead at 500 yards.
- Visibility should have allowed him to spot the iceberg at
1000 yards or greater, but Fred Fleet couldn’t find the
binoculars.
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14. However, the binoculars
were found 80 years
later…
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15. #1
The Designer
- Thomas Andrews was the Titanic’s marine architect.
- Viewing the damage, he famously predicted that the ship
would sink in two and a half hours, and he was correct to
the minute.
- Andrews also went down with the ship.
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16. Andrews also designed the Titanic's sister ship,
the Brittanic, which also sank in 1916 after
hitting a mine…
16

17. … in 2.5 hours!
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18. GOOGLE
Wave
The Hype.
Google launched its Google Wave real-time collaboration
platform at the Google I/O conference in May 2009.
The presentation blew some peoples' minds, prompting
effusive applause. People saw something they've never seen
before: a mash-up of e-mail, instant messaging, live editing,
photo and video sharing.
On August 4, 2010 Google said it was shutting Wave.
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19. COUNTDOWN
To Distaster
10 Reasons for the
sinking of Google
Wave.
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20. #10
Critical Mass
- Wave’s iceberg.
- 100,000 invites, but not enough “power users”.
- Wave, which launched to the general public in May 2010,
only gained 1 million users in more than a year.
- By contrast, Google Buzz (a much simpler service) launched
in February 2010 and has tens of millions of users.
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21. #9
Competition
- Competition from existing collaboration software (SAP
Workstream, Novell Pulse etc)
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22. #8
Extendability
- Not extendable.
- eg Google chrome has 1,000+ plug-ins and extensions.
- Poor integration with other Google aps (eg Google docs).
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23. #7
1:1
- Good for mass collaboration and workgroups
- Bad for 1:1 communication with family and friends
(Facebook, IM still better)
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24. #6
The Captain
- “Live typing” was a core part of the Wave protocol, and
Lars Rasmussen considered it a critical Wave “killer
feature”!
- This was a major buzzkill; few people are comfortable in an
informal chat where others can watch them type.
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25. #5
Product/Marketing Mismatch
- “Wave This” button.
- Media and bloggers.
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26. #4
Learning Curve
- E-mail is simple. Everyone knows how to use it …
- Google Wave had a 195-page tutorial ..
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27. #3
Wild West Launch
- Launched with a poor signal to noise ratio!
- By default, all waves were public, killing the powerful
collaborative features.
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28. #2
Timing
- Consumers not ready to handle e-mail/IM/social networking
in real-time.
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29. #1
The Designer
- Google wave was an enigma wrapped in a riddle shrouded by
a confusing user interface, that is all. It was the best of
apps, it was the worst of applications.
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30. 30

31. SUMMARY
Thoughts
- This time the captain didn’t go down with the ship.
- Lars Rasmussen joined Facebook instead.
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32. One #fail because people
couldn’t get OFF, and
the other because people
couldn’t get ON in-time.
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33. What’s YOUR
project’s potential
“iceberg”?
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34. Simple
Test of Failure
- 1. Is it hard to explain?
- 2. Does it check with human nature?
- 3. Does it work on paper?
- 4. Does it explode in others’ minds?
- 5. Is it the right time?
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35. THANKS
kelly@nowtom.com
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