Best DevOps Tools in 2020 to support Remote Working

COVID and Remote Working – Best DevOps Tools to Support Remote Work Culture

Working Remotely is the new normal after the COVID-19 Pandemic. Remote working is going to stay here. Many organizations are encouraging their employees to work from home as a benefit for the employees as well as the company.

While working remotely, traditional methods of communication, file sharing, and time tracking are not working effectively. But there are a plethora of innovative and proven tools that help remote teams to increase work accuracy. These tools can be a game-changer that will support remote work culture.

In this post we are sharing some of the popular commonly used DevOps tools to effectively collaborate and work with remote teams within an organisation.

You can also read our post on “How DevOps is acting as an Enabler for Remote Working Culture” here.

Best Tools that support Remote Work Culture

Collaboration/Communication/Chatting Tools:

1. Slack

→ Slack is a better alternative to email.
→ It features channel or conversations organized by purpose.
→ It helps to streamline communication by having a central space for certain topics.
→ Slack make sure nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

2. Microsoft Teams

→  Microsoft Teams is a perfect choice if you are using Microsoft products.
→ The features of Microsoft teams are chat, video conferencing, and collab on Office apps like word, excel.
→  Microsoft Teams also integrate well with the existing suite of tools.

3. Workplace by Facebook
→  The workplace is helping businesses to stay connected.
→  It allows you to deliver news and updates to the entire team via a feed.
→  It integrates with other cloud services and tools.

Tasks/Project Management Tools

1. Trello
→  Trello is one of the best project management tools available in the market and also quite popular one.
→   It is a visual software that is powerful, fun, and easy to use.
→  Trello’s work is on board and further divided into lists.
→   All works are listed on cards that are on the list.
→   It is a great software that helps remote teams in managing projects.

2. Microsoft Project

→  Microsoft Project allows the project manager to enter the tasks details related to a project.
→  It also allows users to create reports that communicate the status and progress of a project.
→  It has multiple timeline view and resource view.

3. JIRA

→   JIRA is used by many big organizations like Airbnb and Toyota.
→   Gain full context for each task being distributed across the team.
→   You can improve your planning, stay flexible, and integrate with other tools.
→   It is a perfect alternative for teams who use Scrum.

4. Asana
→   Asana is available on desktop as well as mobile.
→   The project can be created and assigned to specific team members.
→   It offers advanced features like project timelines, priorities, forms, project reports, etc.
→   Asana can be integrated with Google Suite, Outlook, and Dropbox.

5. BaseCamp
→   Basecamp delivers an excellent user experience by centralizing your information and helps simplify your planning.
→   The dashboard gives a comprehensive overview of all the projects.
→   The dashboard will also give information about other notable communication across the team.

Video Conferencing Tools

1. Zoom
→  Zoom is an excellent tool to have face-to-face communication.
→   It offers video conferencing for one-on-one meetings or large groups.
→   The program is online. Thus, it is a great tool for remote teams.
→   In addition to video and voice, it has a messaging feature also.

2. Google Hangouts
→  It is a great option considering seamless integration with other Google Suite software.
→   Hangouts are extremely lightweight.
→   You need worry about low network connection while using Hangouts.

3. Appear.in
→   It lets remote teams stay productive with easy video collaboration.
→   Teams only have to create a room link, share the link by email, or chat and that’s it.
→   There is no need to register or download the application.
→   Some of the features of Appear. In are group video conversations and simple screen sharing.

4. GoTo Meeting
→  With this tool, you get all the features of a conference tool.
→  It includes audio, video conferencing, and screen sharing.
→  One of the best features of the GoToMeeting is its mobile compatibility.
→   This tool is highly flexible.

File Storage Tools

1. Google Drive
→  It is the easiest and simplest way to share files with your team members.
→  Google Drive gives user the flexibility for all kinds of files to be uploaded, shared, and organised.
→  It has easy-to-use permissions. Hence, the team can ensure who has access to it.
→   Google Drive and Docs can be integrated with other project management tools.

2. Dropbox
→  It is extremely easy to use.
→  Just save a file to the Dropbox folder and you are good to go.
→  Dropbox is one of the first cloud file storage software.
→  It is reliable and syncs files faster than other similar applications.

3. Microsoft OneDrive
→  OneDrive is another big name in file storage.
→  However, it is not the household name but OneDrive is quite famous as a file storage app.
→  Its subscription comes with a full Office 365 suite and 60 minutes of international Skype call.

Time and Attendance Tracking Tool

1. Jibble.io
→  Jibble is the most interesting one among the other time tracking tools.
→  It operates on a digital timesheet or attendance sheet.
→  An employee can clock in their attendance anytime, anywhere, from any device.
→  It also has a project tracker to track productivity.

2. Kickidler
→  It is the next generation of employee monitoring software.
→  It has a powerful set of tools to increase the dedication of the team.
→  Some of the features of Kickidler are time tracking, employee productivity analysis, efficiency dynamics, etc.
→  It also has an unlimited number of real-time screens and the option to record the history of actions on the computers.

Some Other Bonus Tools

1. Chimp or Champ
→  It is a feedback tool.
→  It allows managers to connect with teams in a simple and best way.
→  It is an anonymous weekly employee happiness meter and helps to improve employee well-being and achieve better results.

2. ToDoList
→  ToDoList is the goto tool, in case you are geeking out on the organization of tasks for a remote team.
→  It includes tasks, subtasks, creates projects, adds notes, uploads files, sets reminders, flags, and productivity charts.

3. Krisp
→  Krisp is a noise-canceling application.
→  It helps remote professionals and teams to be more productive.
→  It removes the background noise on both sides of the call.
→  Krisp can be used with Zoom, Skype, Slack, etc.

4. Wooboard
→  Wooboard is an online platform that appreciates the employees for their good work.
→  The admin can create a reward program for sending and receiving unlimited recognitions.
→  Employees can celebrate their success with the Wooboard social engagement feature.

5. Evernote
→ Evernote is a great note-taking solution for remote teams.
→ You can keep all your notes organized, sync it automatically across all your devices.
→ It can work as a note keeper, PDA, to-do list, and pocket notebook.

 

So there are most widely used popular Devops tools that are proving to be a boon during these pandemic times to collaborate and manage across globally distributed Remote teams. As we see a pattern shift and more and more organizations adopting and support remote work culture, these tools will gain more adoption and many new similar tools will emerge in the market.

Do let us know if you like the post and also share what tools do you use internally for effective Remote Team management.