Yes. That's the latest way to almost assured promotion. Not only that, Yammer is also the latest way for assured company growth, increased employee interaction, better social circle at work place, more information about what the team in Europe is working on, who might get promoted (published in code language) etc etc
In short, it's a killer of an application where the office world turns into what it usually never is, fun and productive (Well people in Google might already claim to be there, but what-the-heck). This is an idea so great that it was adjudged as the winner of Tech Crunch startup awards.
So why didn't you hear about it? reasons could be as disparate as that you might not be working, might be laid off, might not be a part of a 'cool' company, or are plain and simple loser to not know it. Just for the records, I did know about it ;)
The thing is that even if you did hear about it, have you reeeaallly started using it? That's where I fell through. Although as a good work culture will teach you, I can lay the blame squarely on my coworkers ;) None of my coworkers are active on yammer, neither do they intend to add 'another thing to worry about' to their to-do list. I tried yammering (literally) about the pains of information silos, but I think my voice did not quite reach beyond the silos of my desk.
That I think is one major thing Yammer needs to work on. Change Your Name. Who would take it seriously when you actually call yourself "Whiner"?? Not only does that make me look like one, but it also pushes people away from me! and now I have 'One-more-thing-to-worry-about', in addition to Yammer, the 'another thing to worry about'. Seriously. If SAP, Oracle et all could not solve this issue, how can the new kid off the block with tested (with facebook like) manner of communication walk away with the cake?
The only hope there is that more and more people begin to swear by the name of Yammer. If it ACTUALLY does solve their issues. Issues of finding information beyond the grumpy systems engineer who just would NOT give you the damn password! Or if you were actually stuck at a problem, and all the team members, for reasons ranging from politics to sheer incompetence, simply would not help you out. And that's when poof! Yammer comes to rescue.
On a side note, do you remember Morphius saying to Neo : "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path". I see Neo repeating that lesson to Yammer too! Does Yammer actually solve the issue it claims to solve? is it doing it better than the other companies who want to eat the same pie? Take a feature like 'Questions' for example. Copied right from Facebook book (pun intented), this feature can help you ask questions to everyone in the company. well, not really, but to your 'friends' (like there are any) and followers (lol) in the company. Would you ask a question which would make you look like the latest version of Dumb and Dumber? Silence would be golden in such times, and especially given the current prices.
So Yammer must allow a person to ask not only an un-dumb questions (to use facebook lingo where every thing is verb/noun/adjective and UN-verb, noun, adjective.. the world of dumbing it down), Yammer must also allow a person to ask an intelligent question in an un-dumb manner. Think about the paragraphs of replies from 10 people only trying to understand the question. I'd rather just call and ask, or go home and watch the cricket world cup.
Then, beyond all, Yammer needs to keep up to its promise. keep Yammering. Just like Johnnie Walker. What if with all the Yammering, yelling, convincing and coaxing, I do get my team and my company on Yammer, get a hefty bonus for '5 star rating' performance, and Yammer shuts business the VERY NEXT DAY!, or decides to start making holiday cards instead? I'd much rather watch the second match of cricket world cup too instead of getting fired, and then Yammering (literally) away with a bowl in my hand at an intersection...
In short, it's a killer of an application where the office world turns into what it usually never is, fun and productive (Well people in Google might already claim to be there, but what-the-heck). This is an idea so great that it was adjudged as the winner of Tech Crunch startup awards.
What Yammer needs to do for now
View more presentations from anksphenomenon
So why didn't you hear about it? reasons could be as disparate as that you might not be working, might be laid off, might not be a part of a 'cool' company, or are plain and simple loser to not know it. Just for the records, I did know about it ;)
The thing is that even if you did hear about it, have you reeeaallly started using it? That's where I fell through. Although as a good work culture will teach you, I can lay the blame squarely on my coworkers ;) None of my coworkers are active on yammer, neither do they intend to add 'another thing to worry about' to their to-do list. I tried yammering (literally) about the pains of information silos, but I think my voice did not quite reach beyond the silos of my desk.
That I think is one major thing Yammer needs to work on. Change Your Name. Who would take it seriously when you actually call yourself "Whiner"?? Not only does that make me look like one, but it also pushes people away from me! and now I have 'One-more-thing-to-worry-about', in addition to Yammer, the 'another thing to worry about'. Seriously. If SAP, Oracle et all could not solve this issue, how can the new kid off the block with tested (with facebook like) manner of communication walk away with the cake?
The only hope there is that more and more people begin to swear by the name of Yammer. If it ACTUALLY does solve their issues. Issues of finding information beyond the grumpy systems engineer who just would NOT give you the damn password! Or if you were actually stuck at a problem, and all the team members, for reasons ranging from politics to sheer incompetence, simply would not help you out. And that's when poof! Yammer comes to rescue.
On a side note, do you remember Morphius saying to Neo : "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path". I see Neo repeating that lesson to Yammer too! Does Yammer actually solve the issue it claims to solve? is it doing it better than the other companies who want to eat the same pie? Take a feature like 'Questions' for example. Copied right from Facebook book (pun intented), this feature can help you ask questions to everyone in the company. well, not really, but to your 'friends' (like there are any) and followers (lol) in the company. Would you ask a question which would make you look like the latest version of Dumb and Dumber? Silence would be golden in such times, and especially given the current prices.
So Yammer must allow a person to ask not only an un-dumb questions (to use facebook lingo where every thing is verb/noun/adjective and UN-verb, noun, adjective.. the world of dumbing it down), Yammer must also allow a person to ask an intelligent question in an un-dumb manner. Think about the paragraphs of replies from 10 people only trying to understand the question. I'd rather just call and ask, or go home and watch the cricket world cup.
Then, beyond all, Yammer needs to keep up to its promise. keep Yammering. Just like Johnnie Walker. What if with all the Yammering, yelling, convincing and coaxing, I do get my team and my company on Yammer, get a hefty bonus for '5 star rating' performance, and Yammer shuts business the VERY NEXT DAY!, or decides to start making holiday cards instead? I'd much rather watch the second match of cricket world cup too instead of getting fired, and then Yammering (literally) away with a bowl in my hand at an intersection...
