Team Communication & Collaboration Tools

Current State of Affairs

Multiple tools, multiple channels, email chains, lack of persistency, not everyone participates or even logs in, team members engaged that don't need to be

Email is not good for discussions

19+ chained emails!

Email can be confusing about what you're EVEN talking about!

6+ similarly but differently named stories in the span of a few hours

There is a better way.

Talking in person is great
and encouraged!

But not always possible

or desired.

Available Options
Pros/Cons

• Email...
  • Static, disjointed conversations, slow
• Lync/Skype IM/Video...
  • Not everyone can/does participate, no persistency
• Google Hangouts/Video...
  • Handy but not official
• Other IM Tool (Pidgin, Trillian, etc.)...
  • Handy, persistent, not official

Possible Solutions

• HP Agile Manager?
  • Surely this tool has something--unable to find.
• Slack (hosted or self-hosted, $$)
  • Industry leader, lots of features, very integrable, used by MOD
• HipChat (hosted or self-hosted, $)
  • Industry leader, similar to Slack, integrable
• Lync/Skype - Get FedEx to turn on persistency,
  • Company endorsed, integrated into Outlook, etc.

One Man's Opinion

• Researched both Slack and HipChat and set up test group in each
• I have been POC'ing Slack with DPC
• Tried with UI guys but Big Brother InfoSec has them blocked while on-site
• Use personally with other tools, applications that I use (Postman, Tessel, etc.)

Benefits

• Persistent!
• Central location for Team Communication/Collaboration
• Customize Notifications for stuff you're interested in vs stuff you're not
• Specific "Channels" - public and private for various conversation topics
• ScreenHero integration for Remote Pair Programming
• Integrations & "slackbot" can inform the team about:

TEAM Communication

It's not just toolS for the remote guys

It will benefit all involved...but only if we use it.