The promise

You can only do so much by yourself. But when you get in the groove with a few others and strive for a higher purpose, you can fling open the doors of possibilities. Working with others can be electrifying and you can make great things happen.

Perils

Why then are so many human enterprises dysfunctional? Why does working together often result in splintered attention with a struggle to get on the same page? Why can't we get into some depth on any issue before getting interrupted? Many organizations are up to their necks in technology to connect people: email, sharing sites, web conferencing and mobile phones. Yet these tools often fall short and create more problems than they solve. Why is that?

Insights

We've thought a lot about these questions. Between our experience at the forefront of these technologies and our research over the last three years, we've gained some insights. Self discipline isn't the solution for everyone. We've created Kamune to provide for longer stretches of focused work. Although it is in beta, it has helped our own team come together with almost no email. We believe it can help you too. Here are our insights.

Email trouble

If you are asked to do, say 3 projects in parallel working with a dozen people on each of them from different departments, you'll do the best you can. You might send them an email, especially if you can't reach them on the phone or if the meeting will take too long to setup. While you wait for a response, you might "multitask" and send email on other things. It is easy. Others do the same. A snowball turns into an avalanche. At a global level, there are over 200 billion emails sent every day.

Multitasking mania

On the receiving end, you get buried in email. You try to keep up by switching tasks with each incoming email. This gets costly. With a minute of task switching cost for each email, a 100 person company with 60 daily emails per person could be wasting over a half million dollars a year in payroll. Other tools have huge drawbacks and don't get used nearly as much as email. Sharing sites for example, are typically used for broadcasting finished documents but not for the group work that produces them. In essence, a steady stream of interruptions slice and dice your attention leaving you frantic. A collection of frantic people don't make a tight team.

Breaking away

What gives? Email is too entrenched and important to go away. Just as instant messaging branched off, we can offload group work from email. We created Kamune by keeping the good aspects of various tools and mitigating their drawbacks; by providing a time and place for everything.

Kamune

Kamune uses project rooms to bring people together yet give them their space. (The rooms are more of a concept than game like 3D rooms). You can create a room for each project or topic, invite the right people to each room, share files, share ideas in the logbook, and chat with others in the room. You can also see which rooms others are in and join them or message them. You go from room to room, one topic at a time, catching up, contributing and interacting with a deeper focus and fewer interruptions. The uniqueness of Kamune is not in the features themselves but in how they come together for a better way of getting work done.

Easy start — No download and no credit cards

It's easy to try Kamune beta and explore its benefits. Credit card is not necessary to sign up for the free basic account. There is no software to download. With a couple of simple steps to create the account, you'll be in your own project room on Kamune in seconds.

A new beginning

We don't have all the answers yet to turn a dysfunctional human enterprise into one big happy commune. But empowering people to control endless distractions is a start. It can lead to more meaningful work and stronger teams.

Get on the bus

Pick a project and ask others to primarily use Kamune to work on it. As you enjoy the benefits of Kamune, we believe that you'll make it the preferred means for getting all of your work done.