“but aren’t you just like…” part 2: Google Docs/Spaces/Keep
Agora can be hard to explain. This is part 2 of a series of posts called “but aren’t you just like…” to explain the product to someone wondering who we are by comparing to what we aren’t.
“Oh, so it’s for quick notes. Isn’t that basically Google Keep?”
“Oh, you can share things with friends. I’d rather just use Google Spaces.”
“My team tracks ideas using Google Docs.”
A successful businesswoman explained to me once that people are already trying to mend their own pain points, and the job of an entrepreneur is to show how a product can mend pain points better. When people realize that they lose track of notes, that their best ideas are lost, or that they struggle to collaborate well, they hack their own solutions. Google products are easy to use, popular, and high quality, so it is no wonder that people turn to them. When people take notes in Keep, share links in Spaces, or keep track in Docs, they have come up with a solution- but they may not know that Agora is the missing piece that streamlines and simplifies all three processes.
First of all, Google Docs is a wonderful way to allow multiple people to edit documents. I use it pretty much every day, whether I’m editing my little sister’s college essay in real time or working out language for a marketing campaign with my team. However, I do not use Google Docs to track any sort of progress, especially at work. The point of Docs is that you constantly edit and change- it’s somewhat difficult to see the progress that has been made. Keeping track of a list of ideas with no good way to categorize them is inefficient. Agora allows team members to track the progress of ideas, prevents the duplication of ideas, and assigns ownership to ideas that are turned into actions.
Google Spaces, to be fair, is similar to Agora in that you can share interests among specific groups of people and share links and posts. But the purpose of Agora is slightly different in that we use a pipeline to move ideas along in a process. In Spaces, you may discuss a specific issue with specific people, but in Agora, you can actually track the progress of an issue. As I mentioned in my previous post, I used Agora to decide on the best methods for moving into a new apartment. In this case, it was less about a time-based pipeline (this idea is good and will happen at this time) and more about brainstorming (these organizational tips are fine, but this method combines a number of other tips, and we should go with this final set of methods).
Google Keep is a fine competitor in the area of personal note taking, but Agora goes beyond “personal” and it goes beyond “note taking.” If you use Agora idea rooms for private use, you don’t just keep track of notes and what’s been accomplished- you can develop and build on your ideas, right there in the app. It’s designed to help you think more clearly, so that a random idea that you jot down on the train can turn into a full thought later on. It also can be used as a to do list or note taking app, and it’s pretty, so there’s no reason not to.
Google products are great. I use them, you probably use them. I also use Agora because the functions I crave in each Google app are streamlined and condensed into one place. Has Agora replaced an app you’ve used in the past? If you’re interested, skeptical, or just curious, learn more here.
