Collaboration is the key. You know, guys, that the best products were created in collaboration? Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built Apple, Jack Ma and his great team managed to make Alibaba one of the biggest e-commerce marketplaces on Earth.

There is nothing huge you can do without your team. Every successful person knows that the people you work with are the value of the company. Now, when we live in the era of online collaboration, there are so many collaborative tools. Let's take a look at some of them!

Collaboration Tools for Communication

Slack

  • Integrations
  • Free version
  • Has an App

When you use an asynchronous type of collaboration, it is crucial to get updated on time. Slack is a collaborative tool for communication, where you can create rooms under hashtags, transfer files, and many more.

It has lots of integrations with other tools such as Trello, Intercom, FlowMapp etc.

 Slack Illustration
ILLUSTRATION BY SLACK

Google Hangouts

  • Do not need to install anything
  • Web version
  • Just need a gmail account

Google Hangouts is also one of the most famous collaborative tools for communication. The coolest thing about the instrument is that you do not need to have anything except a Google account. Just sign it and start communication.

Telegram

  • Secure
  • Always adding new features
  • User Friendly
  • Free

Telegram is a collaborative tool, based on cloud technology. All the messages are encrypted, so you can send safely everything within a second. The design collaboration team can communicate here via group chats: add pics, videos, location.

3D TELEGRAM LOGO BY STÉFANO GIRARDELLI

Zoom

  • Supports video conferences
  • Free
  • Get updated often
  • Fast

Zoom is a video conference tool where you can share screens, drop files, and change backgrounds. Co-annotate and remote control, you can use arrows, lines, pen, highlighter, eraser to make your work more effective.

Teams

  • Handy for medium business
  • Integrations

Teams is the solution for middle-sized businesses. It used to work on Windows only, but now you can download it on your Mac as well.

Discord

  • Secure
  • Free
  • Developing
  • Fast

Discord is a free messenger with VoIP, supports video conferencing. It was designed for the usage of many communities of interest. The greatest popularity it has among most popular with gamers and students.

ANIMATION FOR DISCORD BY KEVIN TANG

Collaboration Tools for Task Management

Notion

  • Free
  • Easy to use
  • Great interface
  • Productivity

Notion is also a great collaboration tool. There you can use free space for your project. It is a block-like system that gives you the first 1000 blocks for free.

Space

  • Easily managed
  • Great design
  • Has a free version

Hey Space is the hottest collaboration tool now. You can get tasks from different spaces in this one tool, which is very comfortable. You can use space with Windows, iOS, and Android.

Trello

  • Free
  • Handy design
  • Has all the classic tools for project management

Trello is a great collaboration tool for small and medium-sized teams. Use kanban, whitespace there to create tasks, assign tasks and manage people there.

Asana

  • Free
  • Great interface
  • No insufficient tools

The tool was founded in 2008 by one of the Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskowitz. Asana is a perfect task management tool for small and medium-sized teams. It has kanbans, tag systems, and e-mail notifications. Also, you can drop and save files there, which is very convenient for a long time project.

COLLABORATION IS THE KEY. ANIMATION BY LOBSTER

Jira

  • Can be optimised for your needs
  • Lots of cool tools

This is a commercial bug tracking system that is used for interaction with the users. Now it is mostly used for project management. It has a clear interface, and some developers can manage the system especially for the tasks.

Monday

  • Free
  • Has a corporate space
  • Has an App

Monday is also a hot project management tool that enables an organization to manage tasks, projects and work as a team. It is a very secure one: as a creator of the project, you can approve or disapprove the participants, delete them and restrict their moves.

Design Collaborative Tools

FlowMapp

  • Free plan
  • Pro tool for the UX planning
  • Simple and powerful

FlowMapp is a tool used by creators and agencies before diving into the design phase in graphic editors like Figma or Sketch. It is an exceptional instrument for UX design and information architecture planning tool that provides synergy on all planning stages:

  • It offers a user-friendly 'notion-like' editor for storing documentation and project-related information, provides an easy access and format information on the fly
  • One of its remarkable features is a tool for planning user flows and linking them to the site map
  • With FlowMapp's visual sitemap planning tool, you can design a bird's-eye view sitemap with a clear structure while collaborating with team members in real-time
  • FlowMapp's wireframing tool allows you to create hi-fi prototypes in just minutes using a huge library of templates. The prototypes can then be shared via web links to easily get feedbacks from clients or teammates
  • Overall, FlowMapp is an essential solution tool for UX and UI designers, product or project managers, and others who want to optimize their planning process and improve collaboration in the team

Figma

  • Free
  • Easy to handle
  • Good for the newbies

Figma is a popular design collaborative tool. There you leave the comments and make editorial changes in real-time, create prototypes and interfaces. This instrument has a user-friendly interface, free of insufficient features and buttons. It has various integrations – InVision, Dropbox, and many more.

3D FIGMA ICON BY REIJO PALMISTE

InVision

  • Pro software
  • Has lots of useful pro features
  • Complete toolbar

Designing with InVision is simple and fun. It is one of the favorite UX collaborative tools. There you can work on the project with your teammates: prototyping, wireframing are easy with InVision. Comment on the work of your colleagues with InVision, get feedback and improve the product.

Sketch

  • Pro tool
  • You can work with your whole team here
  • Great design and clear interface

Collaborative tool for designers has shown its efficiency. Sketch is the instrument for prototyping and real-time collaboration that has many integrations. It is a user-friendly tool for UX/UI and even graphic design.

Summary

Collaboration is a gift of gods since with the help of that we can create the best products and deliver them to our end-users. The most crucial thing about every collaboration is the people you work with. Choose your team carefully and use the tools that we mentioned – that is how you and your team will achieve success.