The Tools We Use for Remote Collaboration

It’s all up in the air at the moment, isn’t it? Uncertainty is a bit of understatement. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic the majority of us have zero clue as to what will happen next.

What we do know is this: we should be working from home if we are able to do so.

At ProdPad, we’re confident our team will weather the Covid-19 storm thanks to our unique ‘blended working’ culture, which embraces a human-first approach, and is centered around remote collaboration. We have the freedom to work from home or from one of our offices. Remote staff in the UK, Europe and the US, who are unable to regularly make it into an office, are still made to feel part of the team. There is a strong focus on remote collaboration, with all employees given access to software and tools to work away from the office. Everyone can be involved in meetings and workshops, which prevents feelings of anxiety and isolation. 

“We make sure everyone is included no matter where they are in the world. If someone needs to work from home, for whatever reason, then they’re still able to connect with the rest of ProdPad. We hold an annual offsite, and attend multiple conferences and events together – our company culture is never compromised. We don’t need a boardroom to be a successful team.”

Janna Bastow, CEO and Co-founder, ProdPad. 

So, what tools do we use to help us with remote collaboration?

We asked ProdPadders which tools they use to bring their remote working A-game. We hope it makes your remote working setup a little bit easier.

ProdPad (excuse the shameless plug)

The leading product management tool

Why? Because the best way for us to move closer to our vision is to collaborate on solving the right problems. All teams (not just our product folk) use ProdPad to align around our OKRs, understand our strategy, as well as make good decisions on what to tackle next. We get the same benefits as our customers – strategic alignment, transparency into upcoming work, customer insights, and the ability to work together regardless of where we are in the world.

Miro

The online collaborative whiteboarding platform

Why? We find Miro is perfect for team collaboration and group problem-solving. Consequently, we can use the canvas to visualize our ideas, plan workflows, and keep track of what we’re all working on. As Product Managers, we obviously love the virtual sticky notes the most! 

Notion 

All-in-one-workspace

Why? It keeps everyone aligned on our company policies, processes and useful information. We use Notion as our go-to hub of ProdPad knowledge. Therefore, we all know where everything is.

HubSpot

Our CRM

Why? Our CRM allows us to track all our customer conversations, and manage them through their customer journey. This allows us to give them a more joined-up and consistent experience. We’re also able to track and report on the success of our marketing campaigns and sales conversations, as well as deliver the right content to the right person at the right time.

Todoist 

To-do list solution

Why? This helps us all stay on the straight and narrow. When working remotely you need help focusing on the right things; Todoist helps us maintain a manageable task list for the day and the week ahead.

Zoom

Video and web conferencing 

Why? This allows us to have digital face-to-face meetings with our teams. Either on a one-to-one or group basis, Zoom can sometimes be the only face time our remote workers get with the rest of the team. Where possible we encourage everyone to turn their webcams on to enhance the video meeting experience. 

Trello

Collaborative organizational boards

Why? Trello allows our team to see the current status of different projects. We can also assign people tasks on various boards, which means they have a record of what needs to be completed. 

Slack

Instant messaging 

Why? Slack is the glue that holds our blended working community together. This is because we’re able to message our co-workers instantly, share documents, receive feedback, and connect with our ProdPad customers through our customer community. 

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Be sure to get in touch if you’d like any more advice on remote collaboration.