Remote team collaboration tools for distributed teams
Best Practices

6 Tools to Kickstart a Remote Team

If you are thinking of creating a remote workplace, here are 6 tools to upgrade your workflow.
Aloke Pillai, product designer at Pastel
Aloke Pillai

Everywhere you look, companies are coming up with a remote working strategy. We have never had an opportunity like this in human history to collaborate so deeply with people across the globe. The internet connected us, new products will help us collaborate.

Basecamp has written about it.

Toggl has thought about the pros and cons of the remote workplace.

Billion dollar 100% remote companies are emerging.

While distributed work comes with its own challenges, many teams find that remote setups solve several of the collaboration problems common in open-plan offices. If you are thinking of creating a remote workplace, here are 6 tools to upgrade your workflow:

1. For security: 1Password

1Password Logo

Still using hidden notes or documents to share accounts and passwords with your team? Use 1Password to create and store encrypted passwords amongst your team members.

2. For chat: Slack

Slack logo

Slack is perfect for building a watercooler for your team. You can jump into a group channel or a 1 on 1 conversation to communicate easily. It can get noisy so just set up your own filters for notifications.

3. For design: Figma

Figma Logo

The browser is more powerful than ever. Remember when YouTube videos would take forever to buffer? We now watch Netflix HD videos with no problems. Can you fathom creating in a browser? Figma allows just that. Share and design artboards together with your remote team.

4. For feedback: Pastel

Pastel Logo

Iteration and QA requires visuals and real time collaboration. Pastel was born for this reason. Share a link with your team and clients to jump on to a website together and exchange visual feedback.

5. For documents: Quip

Quip Logo

One central place to access documents, spreadsheets and checklists. No more confusing sharing options. Quip makes it easy to share information more fluidly as a team.

6. For tasks: Asana

Asana Logo

Project management tools need to be simpler. Asana is great at detailing tasks and delegating. Every task feels empty without a point person leading it. The interface is great for drilling down to the details or having that 30,000 feet overview.

If your remote team needs a faster way to review websites and share visual feedback, Pastel  helps to streamline collaboration across marketing, design, and development. To explore real-world examples, you can see how teams use Pastel to simplify feedback and approvals in collaborative workflows.


Have we missed any tool?

FAQ

What are the best collaboration tools for a remote team?

The post recommends six tools that cover a new remote team's core needs: 1Password for security, Slack for team chat, Figma for design, Pastel for feedback, Quip for documents, and Asana for task management.

What tools does a new remote team actually need to get started?

One tool per core function is enough to kickstart: credential security, real-time communication, collaborative design, a feedback loop, shared documents, and task tracking. The six picks in the post map one-to-one onto those functions.

Why does a remote team need a password manager?

Because shared credentials scattered across notes and docs are easy to lose track of or accidentally expose. A password manager like 1Password keeps team credentials encrypted and organized from day one.

What should remote teams use for day-to-day communication?

A dedicated chat tool like Slack, which keeps conversations organized in channels rather than buried in email threads, and integrates with the rest of the team's tool stack.

What's the best design tool for a distributed team?

The post picks Figma, since it's built for real-time collaborative design in the browser, letting remote teammates work in the same file at the same time regardless of location.

How do remote teams collect feedback on websites and creative work?

With a visual feedback tool like Pastel, which lets teams and clients comment directly on live websites in real time, replacing scattered screenshots and long email threads with feedback pinned to the exact element it refers to.

What are visual collaboration tools and why do remote teams need them?

A visual collaboration tool lets people give input directly on the work itself, a design, a live site, a document, instead of describing it secondhand in chat or email. For remote teams without the option of pointing at a screen together, that context is what keeps feedback clear.

How can remote teams give feedback asynchronously across time zones?

By using tools where feedback lives on the work itself rather than in meetings. Comments pinned to a live website or design stay in context, so a teammate in another time zone can pick them up hours later without losing anything.

How can clients participate in a remote team's review process?

Through a shareable feedback link. With Pastel, clients comment directly on the live website without needing screenshots or technical know-how, which keeps them in the loop without adding meetings.

What should remote teams use for shared documents?

Remote teams should use a collaborative document tool, the post's pick is Quip, so the team writes, edits, and discusses documents in one shared place instead of emailing file versions back and forth.

What's the best task management tool for a remote team?

The post recommends Asana for PM tool, it tracks who's doing what and by when, which matters even more in remote settings where you can't glance across the office to check progress.

Do remote teams need all six tools right away?

The six were chosen as a kickstart kit, each covering a distinct function with no overlap. Starting with all six means the team's security, communication, design, feedback, documentation, and task tracking are covered from day one rather than patched in later.

Try Pastel for free

No contracts, no credit card.
Get started now