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5 Tools to Manage Distributed Teams – Guest Article

Randy RayessRandy Rayess

 

In this 21st century, by virtue of the rapid technology advancement, remote work has become feasible. The need to have a physical location for your business can be waived. Many business enterprises or development teams operate remotely with no fixed working schedules.

Have you ever thought how uneasy it would be to get up from your seat to meet a colleague and ask for help or ask that colleague to come over to your place because it will require him to use your computer?

Recently in the United States, a survey was carried out which involved a thousand employees within the stated location. It was found that only a hundred and fifty attested that their company was doing well in enhancing good communication amongst them (the staffs). The question here is, how can you manage a distributed team?

Earlier in one of our articles, we addressed 9 tips on how to manage a distributed team. It is with the utmost advantage that today we have quite a number distributed team management tools. Having said that, we have decided to pick 5 out of the many tools we use in Sloboda Studio for in-house and distributed team management.

  1. Slack: Slack is one of the most popular communication tools you can find in different companies and we happen to be one of them. We stick to slack as it helps us communicate with both the in-house staffand remote staff at any point in time.
  2. Skype: In Sloboda Studio, Skype is not left out with regards to tools we use for easy communication in-house and with our remote team members. We use it widely, especially for audio calls and chat. One good thing about skype is that the audio quality is very clear and over 70% of the individuals in the business sector use skype.Other unique sides of skype are the ability to dial mobile lines or landlines and it also provides a platform for a conference call. Much more it is free to download and you can you use the basic features for free.
  1. Jira: Jira is an agile technique or project management tool that enables you to track any kind of unit of work via a predefined workflow. Jira is customizable and can be tailored to fit any workflow as required. The tool combines:
  1. Trello: This is a project management tool that helps keep the team members focused on their most important tasks. It is also a framework that gives you access to what others are working on and helps in prioritizing what can be done next.Trello solves the issues that come with time zone management. With Trello a team member from another time zone can drop a task for a co-worker that lives in another time zone to pick up after some hours.
  1. Asana: Asana is a web based software that was designed to improve the workflow of team members. It aims at enabling users to manage projects online without the use of email or any other messaging tools.

Each team can create their work workspace which contains the type of projects and tasks to be done. The team members can add their notes, make comments, tag a team member and add a file. Every team member will have an update when the task is modified or changed during the development process.

In conclusion, every good result or growth of any business is determined by the strength of their communication. In other words, in order to manage distributed teams, an effective communication becomes paramount. Drop a comment let us know your favorite tools.

AUTHOR BIO

Lolita Rogers is a technical writer with five years of experience in IT. Her prime area of expertise is Mobile App Development.

CoFounder at VenturePact Passionate about software, marketplace startups & remote work. Previously at SilverLake Partners, Ampush and Wharton.