Since after the Covid-19 Pandemic, most businesses continue to work remotely, asynchronous collaboration and content review solutions are more crucial than ever, especially when it comes to web and app development. However, gathering input has been a long and uneven process up until this point. Reviewers frequently provide feedback via email, Slack, or shared documents, which hardly makes it back into the team's productivity tools.
There are hundreds of static website host companies out there, but not all of them are productive. A synchronized cloud-based hosting platform that bets on JAMstack and unifies JavaScript, APIs, and Markup, creating an infrastructure suitable for both developers and content editors is high in demand, and so comes Netlify.
Netlify with its new feature makes it easier for development teams and stakeholders to collaborate more effectively by allowing for better communication via videos and snapshot annotation, reducing the number of tools needed to receive feedback and manage work.
The company has just released the second iteration of Deploy Previews, which includes new collaboration capabilities to assist teams in managing feedback and delivering better online experiences.
Let's get into more details and see what is new and how a PM can improve collaboration on projects using the unique features of Netlify.
Table of Contents
What is Netlify?
Netlify is a cloud-computing company that offers web hosting infrastructure and serverless-backend backend services for web and app development. It also provides automation technology. It was founded by Mathias Biilmann - a Danish entrepreneur. Headquarter of the company is located in San Francisco, USA.
In 2016, Netlify was the first to introduce the notion of Deploy Previews, in which a frontend pull request in a user's Git repo creates a live preview of the site with a unique shareable URL. Deploy Previews have been a popular element of the Netlify workflow, with users sharing previews millions of times each month, more than tripling in the last year. All of this is made possible by Netlify and the Jamstack, a serverless architecture that makes the web quicker, more dynamic, and easier to construct.
Netlify had created a buzz in the market a while ago regarding the launch of a revolutionary feature. There was no knowledge of what it was and how it worked, until the conference.
Netlify Conference – The Reveal of the New Feature
The Netlify team revealed the new feature on May 19, 2021, at 9 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
It was a complete mystery what this feature was about until the very last second. The only thing that was known was that it had to do with the collaboration. It's worth mentioning that Netlify provided live captions throughout the conference, demonstrating their commitment to ensuring accessibility for those who have difficulty hearing or comprehending spoken English.
Matt Biilmann announced the acquisition of FeaturePeek by Netlify and the integration of its key capability into Netlify Deploy Preview at the conference.
Introduction of FeaturePeek: It was founded in 2019 by Eric Silverman and Jason Barry, with investors including Y Combinator (YC) and Matrix Partners.
Following Matt, Eric Silverman, CEO of FeaturePeek, gave a live demonstration of the combined feature. Over 500 people showed there, and it was evident right away that this partnership had produced a game-changing innovation.
CEO of Netlify Announcing the New Feature
Following the demonstration, there was a Q&A session where attendees could join the video chat and express their initial views. Everyone was amazed at how much easier their work would be.
QA Session with Netlify Staff
It's worth mentioning that the function was activated right before the conference, allowing everyone with a Netlify link to their repository to check it out and play with it right away. The good news is that this functionality is accessible on Netlify's free tier as well.
The standalone FeaturePeek service will cease to function on June 18. Therefore current clients must switch to Netlify to continue using it. Take a look at the announcement.
PMs' Pain Points and How the New Feature Can Help Them Work Together Better
Let's first discuss the Pain-Points:
Pain-Points for PM
The trend toward long-term remote working, according to Forrester, will enhance the relevance of digital collaboration; therefore, developers must make use of collaborative work technologies. Although the remote working environment has numerous advantages, it has also generated challenges for PMs. Here are some of the measurement challenges that a PM could encounter:
- Feedback on application updates may be found in a variety of locations such as, Emails, Slack messages, Google Docs, or some other areas
- Changes in PR are being merged as a result of feedback being misplaced by the developers.
- Non-developers must utilize GitHub, a new technology, to provide comments directly to the PR.
- Or the requirement for developers to submit feedback using PM or designer technologies with which they are unfamiliar.
- For screen capture or recording, you'll need to utilize third-party applications.
- Due to an unknown system, browser, viewport, and cookies, replicating the issue is difficult.
- Creating a new ticket entails several stages, including the saving of screenshots to be placed into the ticket.
How New Feature Help in Collaboration - Feature Description
The new tool has made the process of collecting feedback and collaborating much easier. Here's a graphic representation of how the problem was resolved.
Here is how the example comment looks like. The image was cropped and added red markings in the integrated tool.
Read also: How To Develop A Mobile App - Best Practices
How Netlify New Feature Works to Solve the Issue
Netlify's collaborative Deploy Previews offer:
Live Automated Preview
With the new feature now, it is easier to automatically build a new Deploy Preview as a unique permanent URL for each request. The URL is posted as a commit status for solid collaboration.
A Floating UI that Overlays the Deploy
There is no need to utilize third-party software to create screen recordings, capture screenshots, edit them, or add remarks to them. On the deploy preview page, you'll find it immediately.
Feedback Automatically Synced to GitHub
All comments, screenshots, and screen recordings are provided as PR comments, and all Github comments (done by developers) are displayed on the deploy preview page for non-developers to see.
Integration Feasibility
PMs can easily integrate productivity tools. Another ability is to create issues quickly. Currently, the integration with Github, Trello, Clubhouse, and Linear is available. More integrations are underway.
Troubleshooting and Testing with Different Devices
Netlify keeps a record of each browser’s review metadata so the engineers can troubleshoot and fix bugs. You can also generate a QR code to open the page on your mobile device, tablet or any other device.
Final Thoughts
If you want to empower your employees, developers, and all other stakeholders to view, test, and leave their feedback about ongoing web projects, with every annotation and comment synched to your business productivity tools, then Netlify is one of the greatest options you should consider.
If you are having trouble creating a solid collaboration among your team members and want to talk to experts for guidance, then come to Selleo. We have a team of highly professional and experienced developers and engineers to help you. Contact us now!
