You need to collaborate remotely with your team on a software development project. What tools should you use?
Working on a software development project with your team can be challenging when you are not in the same physical location. You need to communicate effectively, share code and files, track progress and issues, and test and deploy your product. Fortunately, there are many tools available that can help you collaborate remotely on a cloud-based system. Here are some of the most common and useful tools that you should consider using.
Communication is vital for any software development project, especially when you are working remotely. You need to be able to chat, call, and video conference with your team members, clients, and stakeholders. You also need to be able to share screens, documents, and feedback. Some of the popular communication tools for remote software development are Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. These tools allow you to create channels, groups, and meetings for different purposes, and integrate with other tools that you use.
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Software communication tools are a must, and usually they work well enough. Using a virtual office in "work adventure" or similar service can help to get people closer. It might sound silly but I've seen it working really well. Beyond software, giving people access to proper video-conferencing hardware is a must: most people have a basic webcam but decent lighting and proper audio are often neglected. Provide budget and guidance for good yet cheap lighting, and confortable audio system with noise suppression capability (at least on the microphone): remote meetings will become much more enjoyable.
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Communication tools have become a very essential to communicate faster with the required stakeholders.. Few softwares like Jira have the notification services where every change or update in the epic or issue or defect gets notified and the user can act on it as soon as possible. This is also possible in other tools where we can integrate the communication tools. For instance in gitlab you can integrate slack using webhook and notify the group of users or a single user. This helps in quick resolution or response. Even in JIRA multiple devops tools can be integrated and notify on every change.
Version control is the process of managing and tracking changes to your code and files. It allows you to collaborate on the same codebase, review and merge code, and revert to previous versions if needed. It also helps you avoid conflicts, errors, and data loss. Some of the widely used version control tools for remote software development are Git, GitHub, Bitbucket, and GitLab. These tools enable you to create repositories, branches, commits, pull requests, and issues for your code.
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For remote collaboration, in addition to all the tools mentioned above, I have found Collaborative white boarding as a very powerful tool. We can use Miro, Zoom Whiteboard and other virtual whiteboards which help significantly in brainstorming, planning, and collaborative sketching.
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Avoir version control: establish clear guidelines, and provide guidance and workshops. Git is powerful and I love it, and with the right workflow it's an asset for the team. There are many ways to use it wrong though, causing much pain to your team.
Project management is the practice of planning, organizing, and monitoring your software development project. It helps you define the scope, goals, and tasks of your project, assign roles and responsibilities, and track the progress and status of your work. It also helps you manage risks, dependencies, and changes. Some of the common project management tools for remote software development are Jira, Trello, Asana, and Basecamp. These tools allow you to create boards, lists, cards, and tickets for your project, and visualize your workflow.
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I like to have official references in the system, as well as unofficial "work in progress" tools. The form such tools take depend on the people I'm working with: there is not silver bullet, we find together what work for the team. What I always like to have is a visual timeline with the milestones, and the high level tasks we plan to work on for each day. The key is to keep in mind that it's a estimate: the future is always in motion, the plan will change.
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A good tool for project management is Clickup. Depending on the size of the team, it is possible to implement many resources for free. It offers an online environment, where everyone can monitor and update project status.
Testing is the process of verifying and validating the quality and functionality of your software product. It helps you identify and fix bugs, errors, and defects, and ensure that your product meets the requirements and expectations of your users and clients. It also helps you improve the performance, security, and usability of your product. Some of the useful testing tools for remote software development are Selenium, Postman, Jest, and Mocha. These tools enable you to automate, simulate, and execute tests for your code.
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"what testing tool to use" is a complex topic. It depends on what you want to test exactly, what your team knows, and what it wants to learn. Start simple: what's the most annoying or expensive testing task right now? Focus on that. Then ask this question again.
Deployment is the process of releasing and delivering your software product to your users and clients. It helps you transfer your code and files from your development environment to your production environment, and make your product accessible and operational. It also helps you manage the configuration, updates, and maintenance of your product. Some of the effective deployment tools for remote software development are AWS, Heroku, Netlify, and Firebase. These tools allow you to host, deploy, and scale your product on a cloud-based system.
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I'm giving the same answer I gave about testing tools: what tool to use depends on what you want to do exactly, what your team knows, and what it wants to learn. Start simple: what's the most annoying or expensive deployment task right now? Focus on that. Then ask this question again.
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Remote collaborating tools play an important role Microsoft Teams : For better communication between team , using channels etc.. Jira : For Project management and Team task progress Bitbucket/Git/Jenkins/Testing tools : For Version control and CI/CD Confluence : For Documentation. Modelling Tool : For getting better connect with Architect and understanding Vision vs Requirement Tools are effective but Having Bonding & Trust between team members is more effective than these tools whether you work remotely or within same space.
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