Oct 24th, 2023

Garnering the Power of Collaboration Tools in Software Development

Author - GuruPrasad Murthy
collaboration tools-in-software-development
Oct 24th, 2023

Garnering the Power of Collaboration Tools in Software Development

Collaboration is essential to the success of any software project. Principles like Agile and Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery strive to make collaboration more straightforward, and teams and enterprise organizations are beginning to embrace Agile and a whole set of frameworks that make seamless collaboration possible; this is where choosing the most appropriate collaboration tools for your software product development project is essential.

With the rise of COVID in 2019, tools for collaboration became even more present and necessary in the workplace. As employees began to work remotely, the need for effortless communication, both in-person and remote, became increasingly apparent.

Why Do Software Dev Teams Need Collaboration Tools?

Collaboration tools provide many benefits to software dev teams and the other teams and larger organizations they must work with.

  • Increased productivity – streamlined communication leads to fewer misunderstandings and setbacks that halt productivity.
  • Shared skills and perspectives – new ideas can emerge from partnerships that may not have been otherwise explored.
  • Better employee motivation – employees will be happier and more excited to come to work, knowing they get to work alongside their peers.
  • Financial savings – increased productivity necessarily leads to financial gain.
google-workspace
Best Collaboration Tools for Software Development

Now that we’ve understood the benefits and reasons for improving collaboration at the team and company level let’s look at some of the collaboration tools you can use to facilitate better teamwork across groups at your organization.

GITHUB SLACK GOOGLE DRIVE / GOOGLE DOCS
  • It goes without saying that almost any software team interested in building a production-level project that can be successfully monitored, maintained, improved, and iterated upon should be using GitHub. It is the de-facto code repository system in the world, used by startups, open-source projects, and significant enterprise corporations.
  • Slack is one of the most potent real-time communication platforms in the world and is utilized by millions of teams globally to manage day-to-day communication. Communication is organized into channels and groups, and integrations exist for nearly every tool you can think of—from Google Docs to MailChimp.
  • Speaking of file-sharing, there is no better solution than Google Drive for quick and seamless collaboration across written projects, spreadsheets, and more. Files sync seamlessly across mobile and desktop devices, allowing for online and offline storage and editing.
  • Github allows developers to easily share code and contribute to projects without fear of regression or impacting code quality. Put simply, it stores all the code for your project and automatically runs CD/CI tools that facilitate testing, deployment, and monitoring.
  • The beauty of Slack is that a person can belong to many communities and channels, not only those that exist within your organization. This makes seeking support and fresh perspectives from outside the company easy.
  • However, Google has recently been scrutinized for using documents stored in its cloud to train its AI. Many people are looking for an alternative to protect their intellectual property. Some of the top alternatives are OneDrive, NextCloud, and Spider Oak.
  • Alternatives to Github include JIRA, Gitlab, SourceForge, Bitbucket, and Tortoise SVN.
collaborating-tools
How Do You Promote Team Collaboration?

Before you dive into using these tools, it’s important to understand that tools and tech will not improve collaboration if an environment that facilitates collaboration has not been established within the organization.

Every employee should be encouraged to communicate both their ideas and their concerns. There should be clear and established routes for communication, and employees should be onboarded to these routes when they join a team. Additionally, a judgment-free, idea-sharing culture should be nurtured by employees at all levels of the company.