Software development projects depend on multiple team members to accomplish the goal and meet the client’s expectations. Issue tracker tools are great for tracking software but what about tools for collaboration? Management, designers, and clients must all collaborate and provide feedback about complex software development projects. Like issue trackers, collaboration tools help keep people on task and on track. Some of the tools highlighted below can help keep development teams on task.
These tools are an excellent way to keep teams connected with their clients. Collaboration tools are great for outsourced software development projects as most of them are web-based and don’t cost very much to use.
Basecamp
Basecamp is a free or monthly subscription based collaboration tool. Of course, with a paid subscription you receive more features and capability. This is a web-based system that is easy to use and easy to get started with a free account before you have to begin paying for the subscription every month. Users can be internal or external to a company since it is web-based. Each user has an individual login credential, profile, and dashboard. With this tool project managers can create a project and manage everything associated with it. This tool is great for having a centralized location for discussions, schedules, assignments, and project related information.
Basecamp’s dashboard has evolved into a social media-like site where everyone on the team can access a discussion feed. This is where the collaboration comes in as users can share files, check in, give feedback, etc. about everything going on with a project.
Wrike
Wrike is another collaboration tool designed with the idea that everything should revolve around individual tasks. With this tool task management is fast and effective with email integration and file management features. Wrike has a feature that enables users to submit new ideas for a project. Other team members can cast a vote. In this social media-like design teams can actively voice their opinions.
The pricing for Wrike is reasonably set at around $99 a month ($1200 annual prepayment available) you can have up to 15 team members set up with an unlimited amount of projects. This tool is scalable with 5GB of storage space to start off with you can add more if necessary. Wrike has a desktop notification feature which alerts users with small pop up messages on their desktop toolbar whenever a comment, task, or new task occurs in the system.
Freedcamp
Freedcamp is another popular collaboration tool among project teams. This is a project management automation tool that uses project templates. Group Wall is the feature where team collaboration begins. This feature is where all project related information is stored. This tool is useful for small and large businesses as well as individuals.
This tool has limited collaboration features however it promotes teamwork among individuals. This tool has a built in social network to promote sharing and feedback within a team. Unlike the other tools mentioned, Feedcamp offers mobile notifications. This is excellent for remote users who aren’t always at the office and travel quite often so that everyone is notified of the events occurring within a project. This tool is not customizable and you cannot set user permissions. Ideally this tool would be best for smaller teams where user permissions aren’t as much of an issue.
Like the other tools mentioned, Feedcamp has a dashboard and offers on-site, email, and live chat features for users. You can track project hours and assign tasks in a calendar. This tool ranks along the lower spectrum of tools because although its mobile notifications feature is great it lacks in other features. Freedbamp does offer 256 bit encryption so project data is secure.
