Here’s a useful new Google Docs feature – discussions and comments, which we’ll be testing in earnest over the next few days. Some background might be handy here.

Google Docs is one of our favourite collaboration tools. I use Google Docs nearly every day now. It’s perfect for notes and planning as a simple wiki – and good enough as a word processor (no more cumbersome email attachments back and forth for multiple authors). You can publish a document to the web, download and view the history – give it a try. I also use it for my personal to-do list with a direct bookmark in my browser toolbar.

My rule of thumb is: email with colleagues should be for alerts and updates. Now I don’t blame anyone for relying on email for things it wasn’t designed for, it’s usually because they haven’t been shown anything better. But if you’re doing the nitty gritty of work inside email then there’s probably a better, quicker, more sustainable way to do it. Google Docs, particularly the word processor, is one such way. (We at NativeHQ also recommend project blogs, wikis on PBWorks and live notetaking on PiratePad, depending on what you’re trying to do.)