[On behalf of Tre Kirkman]
A few weeks ago in my blog I announced the Yammer Inclusion research initiative as part of the Diversity & Inclusion strategy. To begin the research I created a public etherpad to gather feedback from the community around uses and problems with Yammer. Today I’d like to share out some key findings and provide an update on next steps.
On the Yammer Inclusion etherpad, feedback identified Yammer as a place to ask questions when there is no readily apparent alternative. In addition, it seems to be a place for community building, especially for remote staff. Inactive users complained that Yammer is frustrating, time consuming, and overly negative, offering no compelling reason to use over other Mozilla communication channels. These issues were both technical (frustrating interface, etc.) and procedural (discussions too ideological).
Responders preferred the staff Yammer for posts containing sensitive or confidential information, although some felt the split leads to a situation where the community exchange is neglected and unused. Overall, there was a common theme that Yammer primarily functions as an open forum to share ideas, engage a wider community, and locate an unknown point of contact better than other channels of communication.
In the coming weeks I will research the recurring issues raised from the initial feedback to find potential solutions. For more information on the initiative, visit the wiki page Communication Research wiki. Please email me at tkirkman at mozilla dot com if you have feedback or ideas to share.
Anders
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