Product managers have to juggle between a lot of responsibilities. They need to create documents, roadmaps, wireframes, go to market plans, collecting user feedback, monitor analytics, and so many other things.
In such a scenario, having a good understanding of the right tools could be a huge advantage for any product manager. Right tools will not only make you more efficient and productive, but also help you achieve your product goals efficiently.
However, among the plethora of tools it could be intimidating for product manager to discover and use the right tool, and that precisely why we have written this article: To help you find the top product management tools.
When selecting tools across various domains in product development, it’s crucial to strike a balance to avoid an overly complex and cumbersome tech stack. Below is an organized list of tool categories that are essential for different phases of product development.
- Product Strategy and Roadmapping
- Analytics
- Customer Feedback and Surveys
- Design and Wireframing
- Project and Task Management
- Collaboration and Productivity
Why are PM Tools Important?
PM tools are super important because they:
- Keep everything in one place: Instead of having info scattered across different files, PM tools put it all in one spot. This makes things less confusing.
- Make work easier: Manual work can be slow and full of mistakes. Tools like Jira Product Discovery help automate tasks to save time.
- Help make better decisions: Instead of guessing, you can use data from analytics tools to make informed choices.
- Help teams work together, even from far away: PM tools make it easy for everyone to see what’s going on, no matter where they are.
Using PM tools means you can spend more time thinking about how to make your product better.
Categories of Product Management Tools
Product Strategy and Roadmapping
What is a Product Roadmap? – Product Roadmap
What is Product Strategy? – Product Strategy
| Tool | Description |
| Aha Roadmaps | Set strategy, prioritize features, and create beautiful product roadmaps to showcase your plans |
| Asana | Use Timeline to create project roadmaps that help you stay on schedule—so you hit your deadlines |
| Productboard | Create strategic roadmaps quickly with customizable, audience-tailored templates |
| Productplan | ProductPlan makes it easy to build strategic roadmaps, align behind customer needs, prioritize, and measure success. |
Compare top Product Strategy and Roadmapping tools here and decide what fits your needs well
Best Strategy And Innovation Roadmapping Tools
Product Roadmapping Tools for Software Engineering
Product Analytics
What are Product Metrics for Product Managers? – Product Metrics
| Tool | Description |
| Google Analytics | Google Analytics allows you to look at our data across platforms like web and app to understand the full journey of our users |
| Mixpanel | Simple and powerful product analytics that helps everyone make better decisions. |
| Amplitude | Get data you can trust and the insights you need to take action and drive growth. |
| Microsoft Clarity | It is a free, user-friendly behavioural analytics tool that helps you understand how people navigate and interact with a website |
| Heap | Digital insights platform that gives you complete understanding of your customers’ digital journeys, so you can quickly improve conversion, retention, and customer delight. |
| Adobe Analytics | Adobe Analytics lets you mix, match, and analyze data from any digital point in the customer journey |
Compare top Product Analytics here and decide what fits your needs well
Best Product Analytics Software
Web, Product and Digital Experience Analytics
Customer Feedback and Surveys
Why do you need to hear Customer Needs? – Customer Needs
| Tool | Description |
| Google Forms | Create simple forms and surveys for free. |
| Typeform | Build beautiful, interactive forms — get more responses. No coding needed. Templates for quizzes, research, feedback, lead generation, and more. |
| Surveymonkey | Surveys give you actionable insights and fresh perspectives. |
| Hubspot’s Customer Feedback Software | This tool allows you to create and customize surveys so you can collect feedback from your customers about how your business is doing. |
Compare top Customer Feedback and Surveys here and decide what fits your needs well
Survey Software with Customer Feedback Surveys Capabilities
Voice of the Customer Platforms
Design and Wireframing
| Tool | Description |
| Figma | Figma design is for people to create, share, and test designs for websites, mobile apps, and other digital products and experiences |
| Balsamiq Wireframes | Sketch your UI ideas onto a digital whiteboard or notepad to share with teammates and customers. |
| Framer | Create responsive layouts, design prototypes, and bring everything closer to production. |
| Miro | Visualize your product and improve your user experience with our collection of wireframe templates. |
| Whimsical | Align on your next build faster with Whimsical docs, flowcharts, wireframes, & mind maps. |
| InVision | It allows users to collaborate, test and experiment with designing templates and ideas on a digital dashboard. |
Compare top Design and Wireframing Tools here and decide what fits your needs well
Project and Task Management
| Tool | Description |
| Notion | Spend less time on manual tasks with automations that streamline task flows, bug reports, database entries, doc outlines and more. |
| ClickUp | It brings teams closer together with connected workflows, docs, real-time dashboards and more—helping everyone move faster, work smarter, and save time. |
| Jira | Plan, track, and release with Jira. |
| Todoist | Like the Swift to-do list app, it has a simple, no-frills interface built around a classic design. |
| Trello | Trello is one of the largest Kanban task management tools. |
Compare top Project and Task Management Tools here and decide what fits your needs well
Best Project Management Software
How to Write a Product Requirements Document – Create PRD | Free Notion Template
Collaboration and Productivity
| Tool | Description |
| Slack | Create communication channels, send messages, meet over video calls, and integrate with other tools. |
| Google Workspace | Connect with colleagues and access the information you need — including Gmail, Hangouts, Chat, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. |
| Microsoft 365 | Stay connected and share content any time to learn, plan, and innovate—together. |
| Zoom Workplace | Streamline communication, improve productivity, optimize in-person time, and increase employee engagement, all with Zoom Workplace. |
Compare top Collaboration and Productivity Tools here and decide what fits your needs well
Best Collaboration & Productivity Software
Key Tool Selection Considerations
Picking the right tools for your team is super important. It can make a huge difference in how well you do your job. Here are some key things to think about when you’re deciding on what tools to use:
1. Understand Your Team’s Needs and Workflow
- Project Scope and Complexity: Assess the size, roles, responsibilities, and workflows of your team. Tools should support your project management methodology (agile, scrum, etc.) and integrate well with your existing software environment.
- Team Culture and Preferences: The tool should match your team’s communication style, technical skills, and comfort level with new technologies.
2. Evaluate Tool Features Against Requirements
- Customization and Ease of Use: The tool should offer a high degree of customization to cater to different team members’ preferences and be user-friendly to minimize the learning curve.
- Integration Capabilities: It should seamlessly integrate with other tools your team uses, enhancing workflow rather than complicating it.
3. Consider Security, Support, and Costs
- Security: Ensure the tool meets your industry’s data protection standards and has robust security measures in place.
- User Experience and Support: Look for tools that are reliable, scalable, and backed by strong customer support.
- Cost and Budget: Balance between features offered and the pricing model to find a tool that fits your budget while meeting most of your requirements.
4. Experiment and Adapt
- Experimentation and Feedback: Be open to testing different tools and gathering feedback from your team to find the best fit. Evaluate tools based on their performance, user satisfaction, and impact on productivity.
- Adaptation and Governance: Establish policies for tool usage and governance to prevent tool sprawl and ensure that any adopted tool remains effective and beneficial over time.
5. Long-term Considerations
- Future-proofing: Choose tools that are not only relevant to your current needs but can scale and evolve as your team grows and technology advances.
- Vendor Stability and Roadmap: Consider the stability of the tool provider and their roadmap for future updates or features.
Conclusion
Choosing the right tools for managing products is super important for making sure your team can work well and make great stuff. It’s all about finding tools that help you organize things better, work together easier, get smart about what to change, and make your product the best it can be.
With the right set of tools for looking at data, planning, working together, and managing your work, your team can focus on creating something awesome. Good tools can change the game by making your team more organized and helping you make better stuff.
Additional Resources
How to build a strong Product Manager Resume?
Product Manager Salary in India: A Comprehensive Guide
How to Solve Guesstimates: A Crucial Skill for Product Management Interviews
