Tight deadlines. Teams spread across several countries and time zones. Merge conflicts. Miscommunication between technical and business teams. We could list several aspects that challenge the work of software teams every day. In an industry where code is written and deployed by several hands, collaborative development has become indispensable. But how do you develop software in a coordinated, transparent, and efficient way – even when the team isn’t in the same room?

Collaborative Development: from advantage to necessity

Collaborative development allows several technical teams – often distributed globally – to develop software for the same project simultaneously and continuously.

The pandemic normalised remote collaboration across many companies and software projects worldwide. Collaborative development has become not only a competitive advantage, but also a necessity. Software teams no longer need to be in the same room to innovate and work together. However, they do need to choose the right tools and foster a work culture that values transparency, in order to overcome technical or geographical barriers.

What is the role of DevOps?

The DevOps methodology enables collaborative development. The term was coined by Patrick Debois in 2009, as it establishes a bridge between development and operations teams. It automates deployments, guarantees continuous monitoring, facilitates rollback, and promotes a culture of shared responsibility.

DevOps is revolutionising the way companies develop, test, and deliver applications. Continuous integration between Dev and Ops teams allows them to work side by side. Small interactions and frequent deliveries of new code make it possible to validate hypotheses faster and fix issues in real time. The aim is to share knowledge through constant contributions and process automation. This work culture facilitates remote collaboration and makes project management more efficient.

Which platforms drive Collaborative Development?

Collaborative development platforms are no longer mere code repositories but have evolved into true centres of operation. Which tools can foster collaboration and facilitaqte software project management?

– GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Jenkins, or CircleCI: Version control, automated testing, pull requests, code reviews, and integration with CI/CD pipelines.

– Jira or Azure DevOps: Task planning, project management, and real-time progress tracking.

– Slack, Microsoft Teams: Integrated communication with notifications on builds, deployments, or merges.

– Notion or Confluence: Document sharing between technical and business teams.

– Terraform, CloudFormation, or Ansible: Infrastructure as code (IaC) management or configuration automation. They ensure consistency and scalability.

– Prometheus, Grafana, or ELK Stack: Monitoring, log analysis, and real-time visualisation. They guarantee reliability and performance quality.

These platforms allow the different profiles involved in development to collaborate: programmers, testers, DevOps, product owners, etc. They collaborate in the same environment, with full visibility over the software lifecycle.

Continuous Integration: the pillar of Collaborative Development

Continuous integration (CI) allows all working copies of software developers to be aggregated into a single shared mainline, several times a day. It is combined with continuous delivery (CD), which allows development teams to produce software in short cycle. This ensures that the software can be safely released at any time.

The CI/CD pipeline is a crucial component of DevOps practices. It enables software teams to maintain usable versions of the software that are always ready for deployment. Each modification to the code is tested and integrated into a central flow, quickly and securely.

Digital transformation doesn’t happen in isolation. Platforms are more robust, teams more synchronised and continuous integration and DevOps practices are essential for efficient project management.

Want to Accelerate Your Company’s Collaborative Development? PrimeIT offers the best practices, tools, and teams to optimise your project. Get in touch with us.