It's a common misconception that internal communication tools aren't necessary at every stage of the software development cycle. But the truth is that a work environment where great communication is valued throughout the development cycle is essential for producing high-quality software.
Why is communication crucial to the software development process?
There are several reasons—communication makes teams more productive, improves inter-departmental transparency, saves time, minimizes chances for mistakes or misunderstandings, and creates a better work environment.
Although many companies use SDLC (software development life cycle), agile methodologies, and various strategies to create popular software, they don't always do a great job of simplifying the development process for those working on the software.
A study by The Economist Intelligence Unit found that poor communication at work is directly to blame for 52% of employees' increased stress, 44% of project delays or failures, and 33% of decreased employee morale. Under these circumstances, the software development process often gets disrupted, compromising team productivity, efficiency, and performance.
As the complexity of developing software increases, so does the need for a tool that facilitates communication and offers features to help with software management. This is where Zoho Cliq comes in.
Cliq is more than just a platform for team communication and collaboration. It helps you create images, write code, and share your work with your colleagues. Create bots to receive reminders and notifications about meetings, build updates, and client feedback. To check the test code, you can integrate extensions with Cliq.
Let's look at how Cliq and its features can help you during each stage of the software development cycle:
1. Planning
For a smooth software development process, you need a clear plan. In Cliq, you can create a ScrumBot and integrate the Scrum for Zoho Cliq extension, which can be used to create and delegate tasks to different teams, run stand-up meetings in channels, and move work forward by managing your entire workflow directly within Cliq.
Use the Zoho Projects integration with Cliq to create tasks and assign them to team members depending on priority.
You can also use org channels to communicate with other teams, and team channels to communicate internally with members to define your goals and plans to achieve them.
2. Designing
Once your product management team has solidified its strategies, they'll need to collaborate with designers. Often times, designers find it difficult to explain or share ideas through words. Using Cliq's Whiteboard feature, you can produce drawings to represent ideas and share them with your team for feedback. Whiteboards can also be used during Cliq meetings for brainstorming.
One of the best features of the Whiteboard is its ability to recognize shapes automatically. When this feature is enabled, your drawings don't have to be precise. Whiteboard will perfect them for you.
You can also upload images and files to share with your teammates for review. Use External Channels to communicate and collaborate with external users from different organizations. This is a great way to connect with clients for design updates and approval.
3. Coding
Once a design is implemented, it is sent to the development team. For collaborative development, Cliq's Code Snippets are a great way to share code with other developers and gather suggestions.
You can also share your screen to interact with colleagues, and discuss specific issues and errors.
4. Testing
Every software module must be validated to ensure product precision and accuracy. Software issues that are not fixed before deployment might negatively impact your business or your relationship with your clients. You can use the Zoho Projects integration with Cliq to find and rectify bugs during the testing phase. Integrate extensions like Stack Overflow, GitLab, and GitHub to find code solutions, and manage and collaborate on code within the chat window.
5. Deployment/Build
Your development and testing process is complete, and your software is ready to go live. This phase is when your customers or clients get to use your software. Every time there is a deployment or build, you can track deploy code updates with notifications posted on the appropriate Cliq channel using bots.
6. Support
Support agents are the face of your software, because they communicate directly with the customer. They are an essential part of the software development cycle, as they influence customers about your software and convince them to purchase from you. Every day, they receive feedback, handle complaints and issues, and build a bond with customers.
To keep track of customer feedback, your support team can enable bot notifications to be posted directly to your team channels whenever feedback is registered. You can also stay on top of tickets raised in Zoho Desk with the help of DeskBot in Zoho Cliq.
If you use other third-party apps, like Zendesk or Page Duty, to manage your customer support, you can integrate them using the extensions available in the Zoho Marketplace.
Zoho Cliq can help your company with every step of the software development process, empowering you to produce high-quality software. Sign up with Cliq and enjoy a stress-free development process!
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