March 16, 2020 The Best Online Collaboration Tools For Distributed Teams The sudden implementation of “work from home” policies can hinder collaboration between teams. But it doesn’t have to. Joel Swenson As companies around the world suddenly find themselves implementing new “work from home” policies, maintaining a collaborative work environment can be a challenge. But it doesn’t have to be. Online collaboration tools have come a long way in recent years and teams are no longer only limited to conference calls and whiteboards. As a company whose entire business model depends on remote collaboration, we’ve put together a suite of tools that are reliable, efficient, and quick to implement. Highly effective habits of Agile distributed teams Why businesses need remote Agile teams & questions to ask before starting. Jira is an indispensable bug tracking tool for distributed Agile software teams. Not only has it been around for approaching two decades but it’s customizable around how your team works and integrates with over 3,000 other software tools. It offers great reporting and tracking capabilities. Features Scrum and Kanban boards Project roadmaps Agile reporting Connect issues directly to code Automation Customizable dashboards, filters, and workflows Price Free up to ten users Standard — $7/month per user up to 5,000 users Premium — $14/month per user up to 5,000 users Trello is a slick collaboration tool that organizes projects into boards. From the dashboard, you can see what’s being worked on, who’s assigned to what, and how close something is to being done. Features Checklist with progress meter Attach files to project board Customizable labels and filters Works on iPhone and Android Developer API Price Free — 10 MB attachment max, most features included Business Class — $9.99/month per user Enterprise — Sliding scale starting at $20.83/month per user Jenkins is an online application that monitors repeated jobs, such as software building projects. It is mainly used as a continuous integration system, as in building and testing software projects continuously. Jenkins is changing the way companies look at build management. Features Easy configuration ChangeSet support RSS/e-mail/IM integration Distributed builds Plugin support Price Free: Jenkins is open-source Contact for enterprise pricing, varies based on size and configuration Dropbox is a file storage cloud. You are able to access your files anywhere, anytime. Even while offline you are still able to view them. Dropbox has great sharing features and works across every major platform. Features Cloud file storage Syncing between devices Share files securely Works while offline Revision history for one month Price Standard — $12.50/month per user: 5 TB storage Advanced — $20/month per user: unlimited storage Enterprise — Contact for pricing Google G Suite includes Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Calendar, Hangouts, and Meet, all optimized for teams. Everything integrates together and collaboration across all products is seamless for everyone in your organization. From video conferencing to file sharing, these applications make it easy for everyone in your company to stay connected and productive when meeting in person isn’t an option. Features Shared calendars Real-time collaboration Share files securely Create and store files Business email address 24/7 Support Price Basic — $6/month per user, 30 GB storage, 100 participants per Hangouts call Business — $12/month per user, unlimited storage, 150 participants per Hangouts call Enterprise — $25/month per user, unlimited storage, 250 participants per Hangouts call GitHub is a web-based hosting service for code and projects. It offers paid plans for private repositories and free plans for open-source projects. Integrated issue tracking is another nice feature that allows anyone to report issues on public projects. Features Tools for any project Secure, private repositories Code review HTML page hosting Social integration Price Free — Unlimited repositories, 3 collaborators/private repository Pro — $7/month, unlimited repositories, unlimited collaborators Team — $9/month per user, unlimited repositories, unlimited collaborators, team access controls Enterprise and GitHub One — Contact sales for pricing As an online brainstorming tool, Mural allows designers to remotely collaborate during the early stages of a project. Its speed and ease of use make it a great addition to design thinking and Agile methodologies. Plus, it efficiently facilitates workshops and team meetings. https://mentormate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Mural_sample.mp4 Features Remote workshops and collaboration Design templates Integration with Slack, Teams, and enterprise collaboration software Self-service and email support Education programs State-of-the-art security practices Price Mural For Teams: Starter — $12 per member, per month Mural For Teams: Plus — $20 per member, per month Mural For Enterprise — Cost is adaptive to your business needs Basecamp is a real-time project management tool that keeps teams on track and organized with features like to-do lists, schedules, messaging, and file storage. While it’s not ideal for traditional project management tasks like resource planning and long-term scheduling, its robust feature set makes it a great addition to your suite of collaboration tools. Features Asynchronous communication Real-time chat Project management To-do lists Scheduling tools File storage Price $99 per month, a flat rate for an entire team Depending on your business, the entire Adobe Creative Cloud is useful in remote collaboration. For UX and UI teams designing websites, mobile apps, voice interfaces, and video games, however, Adobe XD puts collaboration at the forefront. From wireframes to prototypes to finished designs, XD enables designers throughout the entire design process. And since it’s part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, it interfaces with all other relevant Adobe products like Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Fonts. Features Coediting — allows multiple designers to simultaneously work in a file Multiple sharing options including private invitations Content-aware layout Vector drawing tools Integration with Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Adobe Fonts Price XD Starter Plan — Free XD — $9.99/month per user XD For Teams — $22.99/month per user This list is by no means definitive and there are plenty of other tools available. However, the ones outlined above have proven critical in keeping the collaboration between our distributed teams flowing. Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash Tags CultureAgile Software ProcessDevelopment Share Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Agile Software Development Why businesses need remote Agile teams & questions to ask before starting. Download Share Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn Sign up for our monthly newsletter. Sign up for our monthly newsletter.