Interesting. One of the small offices I know who’s using spaces with about 30-40 people hasn’t had any complaints except the lack of scheduled do not disturb.
The integration right next to email and calendar that are always open anyway have been very natural, but this isn’t a software company where people are always on it.
The new Workspace suite has a big sidebar where you quickly toggle between Mail, Chat and Spaces (chat rooms/channels). Notifications for all are in one place.
You naturally have everybody in the company available and built in Google Drive/Office integrations are really solid.
The Google Chat iOS app just has Chat and Spaces separated for you too.
I was really surprised at the level of improvement because I needed to find them a chat option with a BAA for compliance, so a good enough solution that was already built in was helpful.
I don’t think it would be good enough for power users or fully remote companies yet, but small-medium businesses who are primarily in office get a solid win.
The integration right next to email and calendar that are always open anyway have been very natural, but this isn’t a software company where people are always on it.