Teamwork is crucial for the success of any team. However, communication between team members can sometimes be challenging. Luckily, collaboration tools can be used to improve communication between and within a team.
Reasons Why Collaboration Tools are Important
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen a great increase in number of people who choose to work from home. This has given a rise to the use of collaboration tools as people still need to work together even when located remotely.
Aside from the pandemic, collaboration also becomes necessary in the following scenarios:
- When you want every team member to be aware of the latest progress on a project.
- To avoid team members having different versions of the same project as may happen if sharing of documents is done through email.
- When you need to reduce on time used in meetings.
- To keep track of every team member’s progress on projects.
- When you are located in different locations.
- Improve productivity by making projects tasks clear.
It’s good at this point, to note that collaboration tools have different categories. In this article we will highlight code management and project management collaboration tools.
Tools Specific to Code Management
Live collaboration when coding helps two or more people to work on the same file in real time. Here are a few of the code collaboration tools that you can use:
GitHub
One of the largest code host for programmers. All projects are public by default and you only pay if you want a private repository. It’s best known for code collaboration and version control. This enables each developer to work on their part of the project and merge different versions of the code. A project manager can then easily track changes from the code pushed to Github.
Teletype for Atom
Created by Github, Teletype allows you to invite other developers to make real time edits and follow you as you work on your Atom instance.
Bitbucket
A free (for teams of up to 5 people) hosting service for code repositories that are based on Mercurial or Git.
CodePen
Suitable for front-end designers and developers. Has a “Collab Mode” where multiple team members can edit or modify a single PEN simultaneously. An excellent tool for learning, brainstorming or collaborating.
Codeanywhere
A code editing platform that can be used by developers to work and collaborate in real-time. Collaborators share files and code from any device they are using. This enables unlimited number of collaborators to do live pair programming as well as track revisions
CodeSandbox Live
Enables the sharing of a sandbox in real-time with other collaborators. You can create, delete, edit, and move files and code simultaneously. It also has a chat feature, allowing you and your team members to discuss changes to code.
It includes a classroom mode that you can use to teach students how to code as you control who can edit it.
Visual studio live share
Allows for live share sessions where members of your team get instant secure access to your code. You can co-edit and co-debug. Also allows you to make audio calls, share terminals, servers, comment review, as well as chat.
Project Management Tools
Although the following tools are not related to live code sharing, they are important tools when working with remote teams. They include:
Slack – best to use as a communication tool for remote teams. It enables you to create different channels for your projects.
Trello -Good task management tool that allows you to create boards to host a project. From the boards you can then create different cards that represent different tasks which are assigned to team members. It includes due dates, member assigned etc.
Asana – A project management tool similar to Trello. Asana enables you to create projects, assign tasks to team members, include deadlines, and communicate with your team.
Jira – useful tool for project management and task delegation for agile teams. Includes customizable workflows, bug reporting and tracking features among others. Can connect with Github and BitBucket for code management.
Choosing the Right Tools
We can’t recommend which tool is perfect for your team because choosing the right tool for your team depends on your team’s unique needs. Another factor that affects your choice is the methodology your team will be using e.g Kanban or scrum.
Whichever set of tools you decide on, keep in mind that the use of collaboration tools is to maximize the productivity of your development team.
Let us know in the comment section which collaboration tools you prefer to use.
