Building apps – internal tools or otherwise – is
collaborative. But actually working together with your
teammates when code is involved is easier said than done. Taking
screenshots, adding annotations, sending a flurry of Slack messages, and
then adding Jira tickets is nobody’s idea of a good workflow.
In this post, we’ll walk through how to use
Retool (a fast way of building
internal tools used by DoorDash, Warner Bros, Peloton and more) with
Cord. Cord lets you add comments, annotations, and guides directly in
your favorite apps – so you can talk with your team in the apps you’re
working in. Cord also integrates with Slack and project management tools
(Jira, Asana, Monday, etc.) so you can create and manage tickets without
leaving your app.
Here’s a few suggestions for how teams use Retool and Cord to build
better internal tools without all the back and forth:
-
Write onboarding guides directly in the app. Onboard
new members of your team by creating annotations and comments with
Cord. Attach relevant files to document how the internal tool works,
right inside the tool. This is a lot easier than outdated walkthroughs
lost in Confluence or Coda. Plus, teammates can @mention you if they
have a question and you can chat directly in Retool– almost like
sharing your screen on Zoom, without having to sit through another
video call.
-
Create tasks that will automatically appear in Jira or
Asana.
Anytime you write a comment using Cord, whether it’s to investigate a
bug or change a dropdown to a search input, you can make it an Asana
or Jira task so it fits right into your workflow (and it will actually
get done!).
-
Your internal ops team can log edge cases and leave a record of the
conversation.
The users of your app can record edge cases and leave notes about what
was decided inside Retool to increase efficiency and speed up
onboarding for new team members who may run into the same issue.
Cord is a Chrome extension that you can activate on SaaS tool or
website. Install Cord in a few quick steps:
- Head to app.cord.com
-
Sign-in with Slack (Or, sign-up to be notified when we add Google and
Microsoft Teams support)
-
Complete onboarding: Watch a 30 second video, install the extension
from the Chrome store, and import relevant Slack messages by adding
the Cord Slackbot
-
Then, go directly to your Retool app and start annotating with your
team!
If you don’t have a Retool account yet, you can sign up on
https://retool.com.
