Having done some collaboration via Google Wave lately I’d like to share a few useful plugins and bots. This list here is nowhere near complete but it’s stuff I found most useful.
Polls
When discussing parts text, graphics or other content elements many decisions can be accelerated by holding a quick poll. The default poll extension offers a choice between Yes/No/Maybe. There are other polls with customizable choices for those who seek a more advanced poll. I installed Yes/No/Maybe/+ because it mimics the design of the default extension.
Deadlines
The deadline extension shows a countdown to a specified date and time inside your wave. I have previously used this to track and limit my work inside a wave but it could come in handy for group edits, too.
Why not insert it into your wave the next time you use it to do a brain-storming? It can avoid endless discussions and help to focus on the task ahead.
Like / Dislike
When a poll simply isn’t enough or there are more complex decisions to make the Like / Dislike extension can be quite useful. The wave in the image below uses two of it to decide between two versions of a paragraph.
Syntax Highlighting
Being a developer I was searching for a way to add syntax highlighting to discuss code on Google Wave. Luckily the guys at Zen and the Art of Programming shared a bot to do just this.
For those who are not yet convinced, Gina Trapani and Adam Pash have compiled a nice (and more extensive) list in The Complete Guide To Google Wave.
Sometimes even the most productive developers need a time-out, I can really recommend the competitive game extensions for Sudoku and Chess. But they can get really addictive. 