Why Google Wave Failed?
By: Wajid Raza
Tags: Google Wave, UX, Assumptions, Failure Stories

When Google first unveiled its new product at the 2009 I/O conference, it seemed like an app like no other. Not only was Google Wave an original centralized workspace and collaboration platform before the remote-work boom, but it also tried to solve many of the same problems we’re still facing today. Google Wave was initially started to answer a simple question: “What would email look like if it were invented today?” However, it was unable to meet even its short-term goals, with Google releasing a statement after only 50-days stating that “Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked.”

What is Google Wave, and where did it come from? Why aren’t we using this app during quarantine instead of Zoom? Engineer brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen led the Wave team, who also introduced the mapping product that would eventually become Google Maps. Google Wave was supposed to be a real-time communication platform. It combined aspects of email, instant messaging, web chat, and social networking to build one simple, in-browser communication application. You could bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss day to day activities or share files and documents.

Here are some of the key features Google Wave promised its’ users:

Wiki-style functionality — While this product was supposed to replace your regular email, it had an interesting feature that all users added to the Wave would be able to edit that document. This could have led to some great collaborations as it would have helped to avoid disordered and confusing threads. Drag-and-drop file uploads — Instead of having to search for a file, attach it separately and then send your email, you could easily add files to your conversation just by dropping them where they were needed. This was a game-changer as it helped to save time and was a useful project management strategy. Playback — One of the worst things about being added to an email thread late is that you miss out on all of the previous conversations. With Google Wave, you could quickly scroll back up and see how the entire discussion progressed, making it easy to catch up on anything you missed.

Although the initial design theory was very innovative for the time it was debuted by Google in 2009, it fell short of interested customers’ expectations and was later discontinued in 2012. One of the main problems with Wave was that hardly anyone knew what a — Wave was or what to do with it. With barely any introduction of Wave concepts to the general public, next to no marketing, and no specific commercial targeting, this product was practically set-up for failure.

Some of the main assumptions that led to the downfall of Google Wave include:

Wave was a finished product at the time of its release. It was always an R&D project. Wave was a beta release in the word’s true sense, not an almost-finished product with “beta” put on it in excess of caution. It was buggy, and the user interface was poorly-designed and bothersome to use. Users got tired of explaining to their colleagues and friends how Wave worked and how to use basic features.

Users would adopt Wave quickly. Once new users gained access to the platform, the enthusiasm faded quickly and was replaced by confusion. There was no notification system originally unless you installed a plug-in. For a collaborative app to not notify users is a big no-no. Once you added someone to a wave, you could not remove them. Google Wave even had its own jargon — yes, you had to learn some new definitions before using the app.

It would be easy to add users to Wave. This was one of the most flawed concepts of the whole design. For a collaborative app to have trouble adding users is a serious problem. Because the app was invite-only, users always complained about never having anyone else to Wave with. Most users simply didn’t understand what they were supposed to do with the app. Funnily enough, Twitter was filled with “Got Google Wave — now what?” memes.

These are a few assumptions Google made and overlooked while designing Wave. Their lack of recognition of these assumptions led to the downfall and extinction of this product. However, I was on the Wave beta testing program, and I remember the feeling of awe when I first started using it. I believe that Google could have trimmed the app down and allowed for integrating functions as needed to help improve Wave. There are so many similarities between Wave and today’s workplace collaboration giant Slack that I have to believe it was Google Wave that partly inspired them.