Collaborative Software

This amazing team will be working remotely, under my guidance, so I have asked them to set up accounts/log in to these following web apps so we can have a smooth and professional work relationship.

  • Art Director – Jaason Laroche
  • Graphic Designer – Belinda Jarard
  • UX Designer – Xena Michaels
  • Technical Team Lead – Jeff Razerman (I know perfect last name – lol)
  • Front-end Developer – Steward Linerange
  • Back-end Developer – Mick Richards
  • Digital Marketing Specialist – Jenna Townsmith
  • Customer Feedback Strategist – Bryana Steward
  • Project Manager – Amanda Delisle (save the best to last – wink wink)

 

Team Communication : I believe that the video suggested the team use SLACK for this.  I am new to the web app but I do agree that it is a very proficient way to communicate as a team, with the ability to set up different channels so that no one person is overwhelmed by all the chats.   It could have a “who is doing what” channel, an on budget channel, and a updated project status channel. Or it could have a team channel, and then one just between the developers or art people.. whatever made intuitive sense for the project at hand.

 

Document Sharing: Google Drive, because I am proficient already with it, it has a lot of storage capacity, and most people these days have a GMAIL account.  It can seamlessly integrate with all team members, on all devices which is super important.  It also allows you to have open sharing files, or just private shared files if some of the members are working on sensitive materials.

 

Version Control: I would stick with GITHUB and Github Desktop as I have experience with it, and it is very intuitive and easy to use once you get the hang of it, keeping the PM in charge of all separate code changes happening by all team members on their separate computers.  Simply by pushing back to Github.  It also allows you to publish online, and share files, this is from website below.

“Build like the best teams in the world With CI/CD, Dependabot, and the world’s largest developer community, GitHub gives your team everything they need to ship better software faster.”

 

Prototyping: I would suggest INVISION to the team, once again I have experience working with this web app and find it very easy to work with, it has quick and responsive uploading time, allows you flexibility with displaying work on boards.  It has direct text comments and emails, so you know what team members are thinking.  It has a collaborative and testing side too. See below pulled from website.

“ InVision is a web-based prototyping tool that allows designers to create highly interactive mock-ups for web and mobile projects. While you can’t create designs directly within the InVision app, you can upload your static page designs into the tool and then add hotspots to transform them into fully interactive mockups. Additionally, InVision has the ability to sync with your Sketch or Photoshop documents, allowing you to update your prototype in real-time within your design suite program of choice.”

 

Time Tracking: This is something I have not yet used, but after researching I would go with HoursTracker, easy name to remember and I love that it not only allows you to manually enter your work time, but it can be set to automatically turn on if you are working at a certain location.  This would be super helpful for everyone on the team to know their work and pay in one app. Below is pulled off the internet about their features I liked.

“The app can track employee hours and earnings, business expenses, payment periods and breaks. It comes with a user-friendly interface, allowing employees to instantly clock in and clock out. The app can track hours automatically based on whether they are arriving at or leaving their job location.”

 

Project Management: I would suggest staying with Slack listed above, so that the app can be well set up,  populated, and control all the team conversations and progress in one spot.

 

Code Testing: Visual Studio Code is the app we are using, and I like its interface and that it works well with Github.  It is easy to add extensions and open it up to see in the browsers.  It color codes things so that you know when there are mistakes and you can supplement it with W3C’s website to make sure there are no syntax issues.

 

Digital Marketing Analytics: I am sold on HubSpot, it seems like the obvious choice to supplement google analytics, since it can sync to your phone, and allow you to totally manage all your social media accounts, and more.  See below, pulled from their site.

“The platform is particularly popular with business persons who own small to medium sized businesses. Part of the reason is that offers marketers an integrated platform and a complete set of tools that allow them to get more sales leads online. ”

 

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):  I would use Google analytics for this, simply as it is what most of us do use in business, and it is linked with everything google, giving easy access to the team members that need the info for decision making.  It also is quite common to see already free with website platforms.

 

Page Speed Testing: I would use UPTRENDS, it has a clean interface that I easy to use, and tests desktop and mobile, offering the important numbers you need for speed tests, with the top web browsers. Below is from their site.

“Optimize the uptime and performance of your website, APIs and servers, and get alerted immediately when something breaks.”