From communication and project management to file sharing and documentation our global team is obsessed with finding the most effective ways to work together, and with our clients around the world.
If you’re cringing at how many emails you exchange with colleagues every day or how much time it takes to brief your team on goals and progress, we can help.
We’ve had the chance to play around with lots of collaboration tools and know the in-and-outs of a few.
When choosing a collaboration tool, here are a few key considerations:
- Does it offer multiple features? A feature-rich tool allows people to use it in many different ways. Consider whether the collaboration tool has shared work-spaces, one-to-one chat, instant messaging, meetings, video calling, project tracking, file sharing etc.
- Is it easy to use? An intuitive interface and simple navigation is critical, especially for fast-growing teams.
- Does the tool seamlessly integrate with other apps or software? Compatibility is important. Ensure the tools support all the other software and file types your team normally uses.
- What are the privacy options? Give relevant team members visibility to conversations and files while allowing folk privacy to chat and collaborate on sensitive projects.
- Is it cloud-based? This will solve your version control headaches ensuring everyone is on the same page, no matter where they are. Goodbye version control headaches!
With these in mind, here’s a quick snapshot to help you choose tools that keep your team productive.
Asana is a good tool for project management.
- Great UI – easy to learn and use.
- Allows users to assign tasks to other members, add followers to projects and monitor deadlines.
- Very useful as a to-do list or calendar for strategic planning.
However:
- It takes a lot of time to load.
- Logging in can be problematic – some team members had to copy/paste the invite link to the browser or bookmark the URL to retrieve it.
- It comes at a higher price point than Monday and others.
Monday.com is great in that:
- Great UI and user friendly.
- It loads very fast on mobile, web and desktop.
- From lists to boards, calendars and gantt charts, Monday makes it easy to organize work your way – the templates are also very helpful for smart and speedy setup.
- It seamlessly integrates with every app, like Slack, Outlook, Zendesk, Jira, Trello, Twilio, GitHub, Excel, Typeform, Saleforce, Mailchimp, Facebook Ads, MS Teams, Dropbox, Asana, etc.
However, the Notifications can be a pain – you have to go into personal settings to shut them off. Instead of constant noise, the inbox, notifications bar and email could do with some streamlining to effectively keep you on top of relevant timelines and deadlines.
Slack offers instant messaging, file transfers and powerful message search. It’s:
- popular and widely adapted.
- feature-rich and dozens of integrations with other tools like Trello and Intercom.
- well-crafted and easy to use.
MS Teams is great for:
- Its easy to use desktop app and mobile app.
- Its amazing interface and Windows compatibility that makes it easy to learn and use.
- It’s a great utility for multiple purposes including instant messaging, meetings, video calling, one-to-one chatting, shared work-spaces, file sharing etc.
However:
- It’s costly.
- It can be a little slow sometimes.
- It boots certain members unexpectedly out of video calls.
So what do you choose? I would go for Monday.com and slack!
- Both have great UI and are user friendly.
- They load very fast on mobile, desktop and the web – this is important particularly when working with global teams where the internet is less reliable.
- They can integrate bots and almost every app, like Trello, Google Drive, Google+ Hangouts and more.
Here are other tools we use:
- Google Drive: Google needs no introduction. Google’s collaboration tools include Docs, Sheets and Slides, which are designed to allow teams to edit files at the same time and save all their changes automatically.
- Trello makes using Agile, Scrum and other project management frameworks easy. The interface resembles solitaire so you drag task cards across columns, just like you would be playing cards. It’s easy to learn and works well for monitoring projects and assigning tasks.
- Egnyte is a great file sharing service particularly when collaborating with folks that are in office spaces with extra-vigilant firewalls.
- Igloo is a company intranet with a wiki that allows people to communicate, publish information, share ideas, and get work done.
- Milanote helps you organize creative projects and place them into excellent visual boards. It makes you feel like you’re working on the wall in a creative studio. It’s also great for blogging.
- Codingteam offers a free ‘software forge’ that encourages visibility and collective code building.
- Wimi offers a place for teams to manage projects and share calendars. The file syncing software enables you to share files and control access in each workspace with a rights-based system.
- Flowdock is a group and private chat platform. The team inbox aggregates notifications from other channels, like Twitter, Asana and customer support tools.
- Redbooth allows users to plan and collaborate through functions like video conferencing and creating Gantt charts. It’s easy-to-use for project management.
- ProofHub is an an online proofing tool that lets you review and approve files. You organize files, plan and monitor projects and discuss with colleagues and stakeholders.
- GatherContent is great for collaboration on blogs, website copy or content, at scale. It’s a great platform to plan, organize and get stakeholder review or alignment.
- Dapulse is great for setting objectives and assigning tasks. Its big advantage: it has a great visual design so it’s easy to understand and work with.
More online collaboration tools spring up every year, while the existing ones are constantly improving their features and functionality.