I have to add a somewhat shameless plug here, because my startup is tackling exactly the set of problems he's discussing here. We really believe that Yammer's model is somewhat flawed, and in our experience an enhanced "internal IRC" model has worked much better.

I like that he mentions integrating with other systems. Some of the biggest productivity gains we've seen have come from chat bots, which interject useful information into the conversation. They can also respond to commands from users to do useful actions. Our API still needs some polish, but we'll be releasing it to the public soon. Internally, we have chat bots that notify us about svn commits, Google alerts, changes to any Trac ticket or wiki page, etc. I can't wait to see what all the hackers here do with it. :)

Communication tools like this really change the game, especially for distributed teams.

We're in open public beta right now. Check out http://shoptalkapp.com and let us know what you think. We always value the opinion of HN readers.

Interesting product. I think it could work well for large companies where the chat rooms make more sense but I'm not sure it would work as well for a startup. Adding features like hashtags and search would help too.

I also really like that Yammer provides a desktop client. I mention that a lot of the barriers to communication have to do with integrating into my everyday routine. When I have to go to a web page, it breaks up my workflow and I end up just not using the product like I should.

Thanks for checking it out. We have a search feature under development. I agree that search is key for this type of tool.

I'd be interested to hear what you use the desktop client for. We have been thinking of creating one simply for DM alerts, but do you find it useful beyond that? It's a shame that browsers can't do notifications.

Also, could you elaborate on why chat rooms make more sense for larger companies than for a startup? The real-time conversation aspect has just be so useful for us, especially since we're a distributed team.

The desktop client just integrates really well with my workflow. When I have to move from one app to the browser and open up a new tab it takes me out of my current mode of operation. It's a subtle nuance in liking the desktop client better than the browser but I think it's important. You also contend with other distractions in the browser. All hell breaks loose when I see my bookmarks to HN, Reddit, Facebook, etc. and there goes my productivity...

For our company, with just a couple of founders, chat rooms wouldn't make sense because we want everyone to know everything. We'd just have one master chat room. In Yammer, hashtags provide a similar feature to chat rooms, although all conversations are aggregated into one stream. I guess we could have separate chat rooms for checkins, bugs, etc. but now I'm flipping between tabs when I could have just tagged by comment with the right hashtag.

I see what you mean now. Multiple rooms are definitely overkill for just a few people. The three of us also just use one room right now. However, my last startup grew to about 30 people, and at that point, multiple rooms were a necessity. We've tried to make it easy to switch tabs using keyboard shortcuts and indicate activity in other rooms by highlighting the tabs.

Sounds like we should consider increasing the priority of the desktop client. Thanks for all the great feedback.

Yes!

This is exactly the kind of thing I coded up in Perl using multicast a few months ago! The interface is done in UI::Curses and the back end uses a simple text protocol using IO::Sockets::Multicast :)

I've also had a lot of fun programming it. Some of the more useful additions include:

  * Git hooks for "official" commits
  * Hooks for when automated tests break after a commit
  * /ping and "pong!" client response to see who's at their desk (I don't work in
  an open concept office)
  * Times during the day (typing break, lunch, etc)
  * Notifications from members that need someones specific attention using notify-
  osd and (optionally) a system beep.

I also built this system because external chats are blocked, but internal multicast cannot be blocked, and doesn't go against IT guidelines :)

Very cool, windsurfer! I like the subversive undertones, as well. :)

Hopefully we'll have our bot API ready for public consumption soon. I'll let you know. We've taken most of our UI cues from irssi, so I bet our interface, although it's a web interface, is pretty similar to yours.

Let me know what you think if you try it out. It's all over standard HTTP ports, so hopefully your IT department won't notice. :)

I've been using Yammer for my startup. The members of our team are in LA and NY. When two of the three talk, the third member can catch up when he can.

We put notes, links and documents on there. It's also a group Getting Things Done system. We try to finish every meeting with next action steps.

We tried Yammer in a team of 12 - 15 devs. About half of them liked it. The other half thought it was "yet another annoying, distracting thing to take me out of my 'flow'"