Remote Work Tools for Software Development Teams

Types of Tools Needed for Productive Remote Work

We will first talk about the type of tool you should be looking at when transitioning into a remote work model. The types of tools we are going to mention are crucial for streamlining and managing your digital product strategy when you have remote developer teams. They are also crucial for ensuring the continued professional development of your team members.

• Calendar Sharing. When everyone on your team has access to the same calendar, it’s much easier to organize tasks and set up meetings. It’s the most efficient method for planning meetings, due dates, and other milestones for your team in light of everyone’s busy schedules, holidays, and vacations. Using this method, you may drastically reduce the time and effort required to organize such chores.
• Chat Programs. Using a chat program, you may quickly and easily have conversations with coworkers no matter where they are. It’s a fantastic way to receive immediate reactions and suggestions. Encrypted chat allows for private, unfettered conversation between chatters through tools like bespoke messaging, cloud storage, data encryption, security, and backup.
• Video conferencing applications. Tools like Zoom and Google Meet make organizing and running meetings with distributed development teams easy. It is a vital resource for keeping teams connected and working together.
• Project management tool. With the help of project management tools, you can help your remote team members stay on the right track. Using project management software like Jira, Trello, or Asana, you can encourage individual accountability on your team. Additionally, this allows managers to keep tabs on employees’ progress without constantly interrupting them to check how things are going.

Many studies prove that remote work increases efficiency. Of course, this is influenced by a number of factors, but it seems that with the right organization, it can be an opportunity for better results for teams.

Remote Working Tools for Software Engineers

1. GitHub

GitHub is one of the most popular remote technologies, and software developers widely use it worldwide. It simplifies tasks like version control and communication for big teams and open-source projects. To keep your team in sync concerning code, you may begin utilizing GitHub with a Free-forever account; more than 83 million developers and 90% of the Fortune 100 already use it.  However, the Team plan costs $44 per user per year and allows for more sophisticated teamwork and functionality.

The enterprise plan might be a better fit for you if you employ large teams and manage large projects. This plan costs $251 per user per month and provides tools for secure collaboration across distributed teams and unlimited private repositories. With features like chat rooms and activity streams, the Enterprise plan ensures effortless communication between team members and a full range of coding tools. That said, this plan also makes it easier to collaborate with offshore companies.

2. Google Workspace

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) facilitates teamwork in several ways that are crucial to the success of any development team. It is an all-in-one solution for all collaboration requirements, including file sharing, email, IM, and document editing. The best thing about Google Workspace is that the learning curve is far lower than that of rivals like Zoho Suite and Office 365. Plans for Google Workspace start at $6 per person per month after a free 14-day trial.

In addition to the core features of G Suite, other cool features include a drag-and-drop interface, automatic translation, an audit trail log, data portability, and integrated search. Additionally, integrating with Google Drive makes it easier to access files from anywhere and share them amongst multiple team members. There is also a dedicated support team to help you with any questions or concerns while using the platform.

3. Slack

When discussing group communication programs, Slack is a must-have. You can use different Slack channels to communicate with employees across all of the sectors you have. That will help you guarantee that everyone is on the same page. That is made possible by the ever-growing popularity of the tool’s built-in features for instant messaging and voice calls. The adaptability that Slack offers is a major plus. You may set up a channel for each of your teams, and you can even make specialized channels for each of your projects and tasks. Slack’s free tier is great for small businesses watching their budgets, but if you want to use this chat tool, you’ll need to pay the monthly subscription fee (which starts at less than $7).

4. Jira

Agile development teams must use project management tools to be as efficient as possible. Using Jira’s planning and tracking features, your team can create and organize sprints and distribute tasks to ensure everyone is accountable. The open architecture of this platform facilitates bug tracking and reporting by providing full visibility to all users, no matter their physical location. Jira also works well with other development tools like Confluence and Bitbucket, making it one of the best project management tools.

5. InVision

When working on a prototype with a distributed development team, getting feedback and making necessary adjustments might be difficult without the help of a tool like InVision. Companies like Airbnb, Amazon, Lyft, and Netflix have utilized this app to work together on design and prototype projects. The platform’s interactive whiteboards and design tools enable quick iteration, smart collaboration, and smooth handoffs between the development and design teams. To facilitate your team’s productivity, InVision has a sleek user interface and many connectors with tools like Jira, Slack, and Basecamp, among others.

6. ClickUp

As a cloud-based project management solution, ClickUp has useful capabilities for distributed teams and individual workers. You may prioritize and schedule your various tasks by adding them to lists or Kanban boards, much like in programs such as Asana. However, with ClickUp’s docs, the team can edit and debate documents simultaneously. You may decide who on your team has access to certain documents and who can make changes or add comments. ClickUp is a powerful application that may help get your team organized and working together effectively. Your group’s accomplishments may be evaluated via the establishment and discussion of collective and individual goals. Using ClickUp, it’s simple to ensure everyone has the same productivity goals.

7. Nuclino

The concept of a collective brain served as an inspiration for Nuclino. It’s a centralized hub for remote teams to share and collaborate on information, files, and projects. That effectively eliminates the need for a plethora of separate services. Without the clutter of files and directories, context switching, or silos, you can use Nuclino to accomplish anything: this includes:

• Creating a business wiki
• Managing projects and tasks
• Exchanging and collaborating on documents in real-time
• Onboard new remote workers

Furthermore, Nuclino allows you to choose how you want to see your documents and projects. You can see them in the List, Board, or Graph view. Nuclino’s quickness, user-friendliness, and streamlined, clutter-free interface make it a standout. It’s feature-complete but easy to use, with no unnecessary extras or complicated menus that get in the way of getting things done. If you care more about speed and simplicity than bells and whistles, then Nuclino is the way to go. The learning curve for using Nuclino is minimal, and the software is designed with newcomers in mind.

8. Instagantt

When it comes to visual project management, Instagantt is unrivaled. It’s not simply a Gantt chart maker; it does a lot more than that. Try it out, and you’ll see that it’s a well-designed, user-friendly program that helps you create a precise representation of your tasks. This program is ideal for remote employees since it helps them optimize their workflow while allowing them to interact with their team members. You can always feel confident in the status of your projects with the help of Instagantt’s many helpful features, such as the ability to create tasks and subtasks, templates for various types of projects, guidelines, milestones, notifications, baselines, critical paths, in addition to automatic project scheduling.

One of the most significant benefits of utilizing Instagantt is the ease with which you can keep tabs on critical facts like due dates, potential threats, top priorities, and expected time and money spent. It’s also great for keeping tabs on how individuals or groups handle their workloads across various projects, customers, or teams. You should try Instagantt out since it’s a great concept.

Conclusion

By implementing the tools that work best for your workflow, you’ll be able to organize yourself and your team better, eliminate communication delays and streamline your processes so that you can focus on growing your business. Overall, the benefits of these tools are clear, and it’s easy to see why they are becoming so popular among digital nomads.

Tools are just an addition. People are crucial. If you are looking to expand your engineering team, feel free to contact us.

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