Exploring 5 Types of Product Management Tools: Your Essential Guide for Success

Constantly seeking ways to improve efficiency in managing backlogs or prioritising features? Is it becoming challenging to align your campaigns with your product vision? The right product management tools can help, but not all are equal, even if they are priced in the same ballpark. This blog will help you select the necessary ones for specific areas of product management, ranging from roadmapping, development, and team collaboration to task scheduling, integration, and analytics. Say goodbye to feature paralysis!

What are Product Management Software Used For?

We want to give you an idea of the categories and features you should be looking for across different product management platforms. 

Category	Importance
Customer Feedback/Survey Software	Understand customer needs for product development
Roadmapping Tools	Align product strategies and visualises goals
Collaboration and Productivity Tools	Enhance team collaboration and task management
Design and Prototyping Tools	Facilitate product design, visualisation, and prototyping
Analytics and Data Analysis Tools	Provide actionable insights into user behaviour

1. Customer/user Feedback or Survey Software

Understanding the customer is important to the entire product development process. These platforms collect and organise feedback from various sources in one central location. Acting as information hubs, they make it easier for businesses to access, analyse, and understand customer insights.

Typeform

Typeform remains a go-to feedback platform. Intuitive to use with seamless embedding and Zapier and MailChimp integrations, the tool provides three dedicated options for beta testing, product feedback, and product research. 

Why Use Typeform for Customer Feedback?

• Wide range of templates with conditional questions and interactive elements that make questionnaires engaging for customers.
• It has an easy-to-use interface with drag-and-drop features that will save you time. 

Typeform Personalises Gated’s Questionnaire

By employing Typeform's customisable form-building features, Gated ensures a simple and engaging customer experience when providing feedback.

• Gated values simplicity and ease for its users. Typeform enabled Gated to create forms that are quick to fill out, taking no more than a few minutes. This approach minimises customer effort and encourages higher response rates.
• Typeform was easily integrated with Gated's existing data. This personalised touch enhances the user experience, as customers only need to provide additional information that Gated specifically requires.
• By incorporating conditional questions and tailored paths, they reduce friction in the feedback process.

Other Notable Tools for Customer Feedback

• Jira: Enables prioritising feedback based on severity and linking it to specific development tasks. It is great for ticket management for tracking bugs that customers report as well.
• Productboard: Prioritise feedback based on impact, effort, and user sentiment.

2. Roadmapping Tools

Roadmapping tools are pivotal in planning the strategic vision and timelines for product development. They aid teams in visualising strategies, setting goals, and aligning resources for efficient execution of product plans.

ProductPlan 

ProductPlan stands out as a robust roadmapping tool and is used by some of he biggest names, Microsoft and Sony. Offering intuitive features for creating and managing product roadmaps, its user-friendly interface and drag-and-drop functionality is for teams of all sizes. 

Key Reasons to Consider ProductPlan

• Interactive and easy-to-use roadmap creation. 
• Effective visualising possibilities.
• Collaborative features streamline communication among team members and stakeholders. 

ProductPlan helps Align Geocaching’s Team with Initiatives

Geocaching utilises ProductPlan primarily for its roadmapping processes and strategic planning. The platform serves various purposes within their product management:

• ProductPlan aided in aligning stakeholders as it serves as a centralised space for communication. 
• It supported the evaluation and prioritisation of potential initiatives and enhancements. This helps assess opportunities effectively and align them with the company's goals and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).
• It offered continual visibility into the product roadmap. It enables the team to have an up-to-date view of where the product is headed.
• Geocaching has seen improved success rates in delivering high-priority items. It streamlines the planning process, reduces meeting preparation time, and enhances the overall efficiency of product managers and the product team.

Other Notable Tools for Roadmapping

• monday.com: Offers customisable visual boards for roadmap planning, allowing teams to track progress and deadlines effectively. This roadmap software also integrates with Zapier, Gmail, and Typeform. 
• aha!: Known for its strategic planning and prioritisation features, aha! enables teams to create detailed product roadmaps aligned with business objectives.

3. Collaboration and Productivity

Collaboration and task management tools help teams to organise tasks, streamline workflows, and communicate efficiently. That’s how different teams can collaborate effectively, assign tasks, track progress, and achieve better productivity and project management.

ClickUp

One of the most popular platforms for brainstorming, ClickUp is great for customisation across teams and individuals. 

Why Use ClickUp?

• Visualise through Gantt, Kanban, timeline, and list views. 
• Automate repetitive tasks and connect with various tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Github for a seamless workflow.
• Collaborate visually in real-time with mind maps, diagrams, and sticky notes.

ClickUp Saved Time for Salesforce

Salesforce used ClickUp strategically by integrating with Salesforce CRM. It aimed to enhance workflow efficiency by adopting Lean methodology. 

• It used Lean principles such as value stream analysis and the eight waste framework to elevate operational effectiveness. The primary objective of the integration was to manage support requests originating from ClickUp projects. 

• The integration with Salesforce CRM ensured seamless data flow between ClickUp and their CRM system. This eliminated manual data entry and duplication, saving time and reducing errors.

Other Notable Tools for Collaboration

• Trello: Known for its user-friendly Kanban board interface, Trello helps teams visually organise tasks and track progress.
• Asana: Offers robust features for project management, task assignment, and team collaboration.

4. Design and Prototyping Tools 

Design and prototyping tools in the product development lifecycle help teams create, visualise, and refine product designs. They are also used for collaboration, streamlining design workflows, and allowing for interactive prototyping. 

Figma

Figma is a versatile design tool that helps you create and collaborate on various graphics. The best is that it helps you build interactive prototypes to test and refine your designs before development.

Why Consider Figma?

• Built for speed and ease of use, its intuitive interface and powerful features allow you to quickly create low-fidelity or high-fidelity prototypes without needing to code.
• It is cloud-based, which means multiple users can work on the same prototype simultaneously in real time. 
• Figma automatically tracks changes and maintains a version history of your prototypes. You can easily revert to previous versions or share specific design stages with stakeholders.

Figma Saves the Day for Notion

Here is how Notion used Figma for prototyping.

Ivan Zhao and Simon Last, Notion's founders, extensively used Figma's multiplayer feature. This allowed them to work simultaneously on design challenges, brainstorming sessions, and iterations of the application's design and user flow.

• They leveraged Figma to combine programming and design tasks in real-time. This collaborative effort was essential in navigating the redesign process effectively.
• Notion encouraged all 13 team members to use Figma, not just designers. This approach fostered a culture where everyone could articulate ideas visually, build arguments, and express concepts. Read about Design Thinking to learn more on this topic. 
• By using Figma's organization features, they documented the evolution of designs over time. This approach helped new hires understand past iterations and learn from previous experiences.
• Figma was integral in supporting collaborative prototyping sessions. It facilitated ideation, helped in decision-making processes, and maintained a visual record of Notion's design evolution.

Other Notable Tools for Design and Prototyping

• InVision: Known for its prototyping and collaboration features, InVision helps teams create and share interactive prototypes for feedback and testing.
• Balsamiq: Offers a user-friendly interface for creating wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes, facilitating rapid ideation and iteration in the design phase.

5. Analytics and Data Analysis Tools

Analytics and data analysis tools give a deeper and more accurate understanding of user behaviour, trends, and patterns within digital platforms. These tools collect, process, and interpret data to provide actionable insights. 

Amplitude

Amplitude stands out as a comprehensive analytics tool, offering robust features for product analytics and user behaviour tracking. 

Key Reasons to Consider Amplitude

• Advanced behavioural analytics capabilities allow businesses to understand user actions, patterns, and journeys within digital products comprehensively.
• Powerful cohort analysis and segmentation features enable businesses to segment users based on behaviour and demographics for targeted analysis and insights.

Amplitude Improved Rdio’s Customer Engagement

• With Amplitude's behavioural cohorting feature, Rdio gained insights into user loyalty and subscription cancellations. By grouping users based on specific actions within the app, Rdio identified the behaviours driving long-term subscriptions and those leading to cancellations after free trials. 
• By leveraging Amplitude's Custom Dashboards, the company customised dashboards for different teams, aligning with their specific metrics and distributing scheduled reports. 

Other Notable Tools for Analytics and Data Analysis

• Google Analytics 4: Monitors live performance and identify trends as they happen, enabling quick response to issues or opportunities. And if you are keen on learning it, check out the wide range of GA4 courses on our platform. 
• Mixpanel: Understands user flow through key conversion funnels and identifies drop-off points for targeted improvements.

Recap

Category	Tool	Key Features
Customer Feedback/Survey Software	Typeform	Intuitive interface with conditional questions and interactive elements. Seamless embedding and integrations with Zapier and MailChimp. Dedicated options for beta testing, product feedback, and research.
	Jira	Prioritising feedback based on severity and linking it to specific development tasks. Great for ticket management and tracking reported bugs.
	Productboard	Prioritisation based on impact, effort, and user sentiment. Helps in organising and managing user feedback effectively.
Roadmapping Tools	ProductPlan	Intuitive roadmap creation and management. Used by major companies like Microsoft and Sony. Collaborative features for effective communication.
	monday.com	Customisable visual boards for roadmap planning.Integrates with various tools like Zapier, Gmail, and Typeform. Effective progress tracking.
	aha!	Strategic planning and prioritisation features. Detailed product roadmap creation aligned with business objectives.
Collaboration and Productivity Tools	ClickUp	Multiple views for task visualisation (Gantt, Kanban, timeline, list). Integration with tools like Slack, Google Drive, and Github. Real-time visual collaboration features.
	Trello	User-friendly Kanban board interface for task organisation. Visual task tracking and progress monitoring.
	Asana	Robust project management features for task assignment and team collaboration. Effective communication and task organisation.
Design and Prototyping Tools	Figma	Cloud-based collaborative design tool for interactive prototypes. Real-time multi-user editing and version history. Speedy and intuitive interface.
	InVision	Prototyping and collaboration features for interactive designs. Sharing and feedback collection for design iterations.
	Balsamiq	User-friendly interface for creating wireframes and low-fidelity prototypes. Rapid ideation and iteration in the design phase.
Analytics and Data Analysis Tools	Amplitude	Comprehensive analytics for user behaviour tracking. Cohort analysis and segmentation for targeted insights. Customisable dashboards for specific team metrics.
	Google Analytics 4	Real-time monitoring of performance and trend identification. Enables quick response to issues or opportunities.
	Mixpanel	User flow analysis through conversion funnels. Identification of drop-off points for targeted improvements.