Best Project Management Tools for Remote Developers to Manage Work

Business Units have highly benefitted by outsourcing in several ways. However, there are several challenges a company has to face while performing outsourcing. Some of the common challenges are information sharing, collaboration, and communication when working with outsourcing teams. Another challenge businesses have to face is the decreased business productivity. Mere having the desired skills is not enough to manage the developer team remotely, instead, you got to have the right technology and set of project management tools to manage your team to track the work and keep an eye on the overall project’s progress. In this article, we are going to tell you about ten popular tools that you can use to manage your outsourcing teams effectively to get the most out of it.

There are majorly three areas or management tasks under which all these tools are used. These management duties/tasks to manage developers remotely are as follows:

• Communication Management
• Task Management
• Code and Version Management

Let us understand each one of them along with the tools that are needed to manage remote developers like the mobile app developers and website developers :

Communication Management Tools to Manage Remote Developers

Slack Tool

Slack is a communication tool that is used to perform conversation on a daily basis. It provides multiple features like you can make calls, have group discussions, send direct messages, attach documents, files, images, etc. to share. You can also comment on other people’s conversations to express your views. Slack has an exclusive feature where you can come up with different channels based on individual projects or small groups. Messages can be sent to a particular person, a group of people, or an entire team.

Slack Offers the Following Features

• Task-list management
• Collaborate with posts
• Custom slash commands and shortcuts
• Ease of taking notes
• Audio Calls
• Cost of Slack Tool

  As far as the price of Slack is concerned, the standard and the plus versions are available at $2.67 and $5 respectively, while the basic version of slack is available for free.

  Skype Tool

  Skype is an online communication tool that allows you to communicate with others locally, nationally, or internationally. By using Skype’s audio/video call feature, you can have a conference call with your project manager or the entire developer team. As a business setup, Skype works great as a perfect tool for remote collaboration. It is compatible with all the Microsoft compatible devices and it is a product of Microsoft.

  Skype Offers the Following Features

  • Call recording with live subtitles
  • HD video and audio calling
  • Private conversations

  Cost of Skype

  For businesses and corporations, the advanced version with added features and functionalities will cost you $2 per user per month, while the basic version of Skype is available for free.

  Task Management Tools for Remote Developers

  

  JIRA Task Management Tool

  JIRA is project management or task management tool developed specifically for agile project management or for the teams related to software development. In the market, it is considered one of the best tools for task management. As a business, you may have less knowledge regarding agile development and how things like Scrum or Kanban works, but with your remote development team, these things are very clear. JIRA helps you visualize everything that is happening with your project. You can track the progress of your project by knowing who is working on your project and what type of job has been assigned. Some of the successful organizations making use of JIRA are Cisco, Airbnb, Square, and eBay.

  JIRA offers the following features:

  • Customizable Workflows
  • Customizable dashboards
  • Outstanding user experience
  • Integration with flexible REST APIs

  Cost of JIRA Task Management

  For using JIRA you have to pay a monthly subscription. The started version will cost you $10 per month for up to 10 users. For standard and premium versions, you will have to pay $7 per user per month and $14 per user per month respectively.

  Asana Task Management

  Asana helps the team member to work in a smooth collaborative manner. This tool is capable enough to track the tasks and assignments taken up by the team. This process can be completed without sending reminders. A feature called “smarter inbox” will free the chunk from unwanted messages. The results can be compared with the estimations with this tool. With all the things managed under one roof, Asana makes the work quite easy with efficient management.

  Asana Offers the Following Features:

  • Customizable dashboards
  • Reminders
  • Tags and comments
  • Assigning subtasks
  • Project permissions

  Cost of Asana Tool

  The tool is available for free for a team of up to 15 members. The premium version will cost you $13.49 per user per month and $10.99 per user annually.

  Trello Task Management Tool

  Trello is one of the most renowned collaboration tools for task management. Here the teams are delegated with the tasks that are listed down. Everyone can see the board which displays the task cards and the team members can monitor their work progress, other team members’ work progress, and the timeline to complete the desired project. Further, Trello allows you to create cards for different actions to track the project’s progress. The cards can be like to offer feedback for the demo created for the project or sending out brand guidelines for the project design.

  Trello Offers the Following Features:

  • Customer Support
  • Data filters
  • Information backup
  • Individual task management
  • Automated email notification

  Cost of Trello

  You can get the basic version of Trello for free with core features. As far as the paid version is concerned, the business class version comes for $9.99 per user per month and the enterprise version comes for $20.83 per user per month. You can check here the 5 biggest project management trends shaping.

  Also Read: Mobile Game Development: Tools, Trends, & Best Practices

  Code and Version Management Tools for Remote Developers

  

  GitHub Code and Version Management Tool

  GitHub is a platform where developers can share, collaborate, and upload their source code files. Anyone can use this platform as it is an open-source platform. Apart from the prior mentioned features, one can also use GitHub for storing private projects/tasks in exchange for some amount of fee. Github can also be used along with other automated testing tools that are immensely popular in the market like Jenkins. The platform is very popular because here the developers can check their code simultaneously while they are writing it. Hence, GitHub is gaining immense popularity among the developers’ community across the world.

  GitHub Offers the Following Features

  • Integrated Issue Tracking Functionalities
  • Field-tested project tools
  • Supports more than 200 programming languages
  • Collaborative code review

  Cost of GitHub Tool

  The pro version is available for $7 per month while the basic version is available for free. Some several insights and tools come along with the pro version which you can use in your project.

  Bitbucket Code and Version Management Tool

  Bitbucket also comes from Atlassian, just like JIRA. Bitbucket is a tool that is used primarily for storing the source code files and sharing them with other team members by permission. The tool was developed to encourage better collaboration throughout the process of development right from coding to finally project deployment. The tool is website based and hence it can be accessed at any time and from anywhere. The tool can be used for projects that use two revision control systems – Git or Mercurial. As far as the technicalities are concerned, it is slightly tricky to understand, however, the way it securely stores the files and helps to collaborate the web application development developers or app development  team is what makes the business units go in awe with it.

  Bitbucket Offers the Following Features

  • JIRA software integration
  • Issue tracking
  • Git large file support
  • Pull requests
  • Cost of Bitbucket

    You don’t have to pay anything for this tool up to 5 users, then the standard plan comes with a price of $2 per user. For larger teams, there is a premium version available for $5 per user.

    Active.Collab Code and Version Management Tool

    Active.Collab is one of the smartest project management tools that has several uses such as collaborating with the teams, managing tasks, tracking time, and issuing invoices. With Active.Collab, you can very well manage different projects separately at one single place with separate tasks lists, files, and records. One of the best features the tool provides is its dashboard which is quite unique and properly maintained.

    There is a unique dashboard available for every individual that displays the exact information specifically meant for them. You can also apply the filter on the tasks based on the people, labels, or due dates. The dashboard allows you to leave comments create new tasks, attach files, and stay updated. It provides you a Gantt-like timeline so that you can arrange and manage all your tasks. When it comes to meeting deadlines, Active.Collab provides you all-in-calendar. If you want answers to your queries, or want to start a discussion, use @mentions.

    Active.Collab Offers the Following Features

    • Project Management
    • Task management
    • Email integration
    • Invoicing
    • Collaborative writing
    • Unlimited projects and tasks

    Cost

    The tool has annual as well as monthly plans. The annual plan of Active.Collab is available for $6.25 per user per month basis while the monthly plan of Active.Collab comes at $7 per user per month.

    Podio Code and Version Management Tool

    Podio is yet another efficient project management tool used for team collaboration and management. Podio works in such a way that it helps you to ensure that your team is working in a synchronized manner as the tool offers structured content along with conversations. With Podio, you can actually define the roles of your employees in order to improve employee relationships and delivery times. You can manage your workplace access and make necessary adjustments with the help of granular admin capabilities. The Podio workspace allows you to invite freelancers, clients, and other external parties for free. You have the option to customize your process and make them tailor-made based on the requirements of your team.

    Podio Offers You the Following Features

    • Data Visualization
    • Unlimited Storage
    • Project management
    • Social Collaboration
    • Meeting scheduling

    Cost of Podio

    Podio is available for free up to 5 users. The basic plan is available for $9 and the Plus plan is available for $14. There is also a premium version that is available for $24 and has advanced features.

    Basecamp Code and Version Management Tool

    The task becomes stressful when you have to do multitasking, for example, managing your business with file attachments, email chains, and meetings. This critical issue can be resolved with the help of Basecamp. It organizes the teams, projects, and communications within the organization. Say for example, when there is a project that is currently running on sales and marketing, all the members can access the information at the same time with a single screen. The tool, for posting the feedback and updates, makes use of a message board and thus arranges everything in systematic order. Hence it becomes easier for the team to get back to the information when required.

    The tool has a to-do section that allows you to see who is assigned what job and track the progress of the various tasks. The concerned information can be accessed without even asking the team members for any status update. In the schedule section, you can see the date and time while files and docs are used to upload images, files, and folders which makes it convenient to find later what they were looking for.

    Basecamp Offers the Following Features

    • Activity dashboard
    • Activity tracking
    • Collaboration tools
    • Project time tracking
    • Cost of Basecamp

      The basic version is available for free while the premium version comes at a cost of $99 per month. The best thing about his tool is that the paid version can be used for unlimited users and unlimited projects.

      Also Read: Top 13 Push Notification Tools To Boost Mobile App Engagement

      Conclusion

      In the end, we can conclude by saying that such tools for management are very high in demand. That’s the reason for outsourcing software development projects to handle the teams remotely is increasing rapidly today. This implies to the fact, that the businesses must be fully equipped with the right resources to ensure the smooth functioning of the business operations. The tools which can convert a tedious process like remote handling into something like a walk in the park are gaining immense popularity in the market. That’s the reason more number of business units are making use of these tools as a part of their business processes.