As technology is making its way through the world with a ripping speed, some things, which once used to be earned privileges or perks, are taking the shape of normalcy.
High flexibility of schedule, better time management, lower cost of living, there seems to be no downside of working remotely.
But is it true for developers also?
While working with highly distributed teams, there are a number of issues that can hinder the progress of a project in the absence of proper development tools in place. For instance
- Poorly defined development lifecycle
- Duplication of code
- Lack of proper coordination
- Unnecessary dependencies between different teams
- Issues of version control, and many more.
So do we really leave behind ‘good teamwork’ when we choose to start working remotely? Technology says we don’t. But how? Let’s take a look.
Tools For Effective Communication
Effective communication in the world of remote working is not limited to chat messages and video conferences, clean data sharing is also a major part of it. Tools like the following make up for all the communication needs for remote developers.
- Google docs: the online platform for file sharing and collaborative working with different data formats
- Slack: the best-known tool for effective communication between developers, allows fast chat messaging and the ability to create and manage different channels.
- Snagit and Jing: this software allows easy screen capturing and media sharing
Tools For Collaborative Coding
With the numerous breakthroughs in the field of internet and online software, collaborative work becomes but a cakewalk for most. You just need to have the perfect mix of tools for the needs of your remote teams.
Some of the best software to opt for efficient collaboration is
- GitHub: the common code repository
- Functional testing tools such as selenium, PhantomJS, TestNG
- Virtual Whiteboard: A whiteboard software not only provides common tools for communication and effective data sharing but also makes real-time discussions much easier.
Team Management Tools
It has been established time and again that how crucial team management, work delegation, and process adherence are for a successful remote work culture.
Thankfully, there are a number of software that makes all this easy with a minimum need for manual intervention.
- Trello: With the provision of creating different project boards, defining work stages, commenting and recording history, Trello is one of the most widely used software for work and team management.
- JIRA: It allows easy tracking of bugs and other issues for developers
- Asana: it is a tool for individual time management which is an important aspect of working remotely
- Confluence: confluence allows easy documentation for developers
Code Management
Technology has made our work more modular in nature which has made it easy for developers to keep track of their codes in a better way.
They follow the develop-test-deploy-monitor process with the help of a number of budget-friendly, multitasking applications like
- AWS (Amazon Web Services): AWS provides a broad range of applications such as global computing, database, deployment services, analytics application, etc.
- Docker: This tool makes it easy for developers to create, deploy and run applications with the help of containerization.
- CircleCI: it is an important tool for remote workers, especially freelancers because it is free. CircleCI allows the developers to continuously utilize continuous integration in their development process.
Apart from these tools, developers use Dropbox and Google drive for secure data sharing across the world.
Taking their productivity and efficiency to the next level, remote developers and their companies rely on a suitable mix of this software. And needless to say, the results have been amazing.
So if you are a remote developer or a development company which employs remote teams, get your team the best of the technology and make collaborative working simpler for them.