10 Must-Have Apps You Should Have in Your Agile Toolchain

At Unfuddle we are a distributed team of several software engineers. As a distributed team, we have some common tools we all share, as well as our own personal list of go-to apps. These tools help us in our continuous delivery of features, fixes, and new products.

Here are the recommended tools we use everyday, and some quick thoughts on why we like them so much. Please comment or share your favorites – we’re always on the lookout for recommendations.

1. Unfuddle
   
   Unfuddle keeps our team organized through task assignments attached to our Git repository. Taskboards showing tickets keep us on the same page so that we’re aware of the state of our code at all times. Its simplicity keeps our energies focused on building great software.

2. AgilePad
   
   Like you, we often conceptualize and brainstorm lots of new ideas. These ideas are never in short supply, but we find that keeping them organized as projects becomes a problem. The solution? AgilePad. It serves as a centralized project management notepad that turns those new ideas into actionable tasks.

3. Atom
   
   We love TextMate and Sublime. But Atom is winning some of us over because of its extensibility and customisability. It has a ton of nice little features that streamline our development just a bit more.

4. SourceTree
   
   Fetch, Pull, Push, Reset, Revert, Log, Branch, Merge – Git commands and command arguments that we’re just not inclined to commit to memory any longer (pun very intended). Some of us still use Terminal, but visualization of diffs will spoil you.
   
   A recent discovery has been GitKraken, which looks to be a worthy alternative.

5. Docker
   
   Docker gives us an environment to design and test production environments on virtual machines. By employing layers, we can extend virtual machines with ease with full ssh and debug capabilities. Virtual layers also save us storage space by using base storage without the need to duplicate it. The true benefit of Docker is that we are able to encapsulate apps in their own environment, which in turn makes deliverables a lot less painful.

6. ClipMenu (http://www.clipmenu.com)
   
   To use an old cliché: You never know how much you miss something until it’s no longer there. ClipMenu is the very definition of this. We rely on ClipMenu so much because limiting yourself to just one thing in clipboard memory at any given time is just crazy talk.

7. VirtualBox
   
   We’re an OSX development house, and VirtualBox is our open-source solution for testing our apps on Windows/IE.

8. Chrome
   
   One does not simply do web development without good browser. Enter Chrome with its web inspector/console. It’s second to none and really is the one browser to rule them all. Okay, we promise, no more references to The Lord of the Rings.

9. Skype
   
   Sometimes your distributed team needs to talk with each other right now. Skype facilitates the face to face conversations that are inevitable. It’s our de facto video conferencing app and its companion mobile app keeps us all connected.

10. Spotify
    
    There’s little need to dive into the virtues of listening to music. Science pretty much has that covered (Read the best music to listen to for optimal productivity, according to science.). What we like about Spotify is that it rarely fails us when it comes to listening recommendations. And $10 a month is a no-brainer when it comes to improving your work, mood, and general well-being while coding.

What tools, apps, or sites are we missing that should be a part of one’s development toolchain?

Let us know in the comments below, or tweet @unfuddle with the hashtag #UnfuddleIdeas.