Product management an important part of digital product companies – but until recently this role had no tool of its own. This article reviews popular tools for Product Management, in order to provide a better sense for what’s possible and which tool might be right for your organization.
Quick Guide to Product Management Tools
This is a new and promising product management tool that offers a multitude of features that take the essentials to a whole new level of development. This software was founded by an established figure in the industry known for its best practices.
Productfolio, a newcomer to the product management tool industry, has made quite an impression with an extensive range of features to help you organize your tasks.
It is currently in beta and provides free accounts to all users as of 2021. The flexible app has a smooth end-to-end flow and an easy-to-use interface that guides users through every step of the operation.
It also advocates a range of planning methods, including theme-based and timeline-based techniques. Productfolio, which has been hailed as one of the best tech programs, is also a top choice for enterprise and innovative ventures.
What to Love:
- exemplary when it comes usability, user interface, and overall user experience
- the reliably excellent strategy features to reinforce your business and marketing approach
- offers an end-to-end management workflow with a centralized strategy and prioritization features
- one of the few product management tools that support both theme-based and timeline-based planning.
- currently beta testing their platform, so accounts are free with top features
- idea portal where team members can brainstorm, discuss, recommend and vote
- stakeholder portal for project transparency allowing clients to check progress for themselves
Downside:
- Needs more third-party feature integration
- Not quite as well-known as some of the others (yet)
Verdict: 4.5/5; despite being relatively new, this is a highly promising option and the overall best for every project type and scale
The company behind Productboard, one of the top-notch product management tools available, is mainly based in San Francisco but has several offices located in Europe. While it continues to develop, it aims to be a leading name in the product management industry.
Productboard excels at teamwork, as its features allow Product Managers from various departments to gather, review, and interpret information from brainstorming sessions. It also includes organizing approaches based on the context and the timetable and a user-friendly interface for a better user experience.
Best Features:
- Established the first and most advanced end-to-end management features
- UI design and the interface is aesthetically pleasing
- Offers one of the most reliable market discovery boosts
- Can support planning based on both timelines and themes
- Also compatible with models for custom scoring
- Good integration with communication applications and features a catalog for feedback and insights
Downsides:
- Doesn’t come with strategy features
- UI is elegant but UX is still a little confusing
- Lacks a requirement regulation feature
Verdict: 4/5; reliable delivery of complex systems with end-to-end management.
Founded back in 2013 and based in San Francisco, the company behind this tool was a pioneer in the product management industry. AHA showcases its content alongside its features as it continues to advance.
Their early working timeline resulted in creating a solid product management platform that allows for third-party software integration. That said, when using applications and widgets on your programs, this is a great option to consider.
AHA is not terribly easy to use and understand, but it does provide a robust feature list. It’s a typical example of enterprise software that is more tailored to buyers than users. Not terrible, but not the best experience for PMs either.
Best Features:
- One fo the first and best-known solutions in the space
- A brand new ideas module (but uyou have to pay extra for it)
- Extremeley versatile and flexible for planning and reporting
- Highly configurable andcan support most use cases
Downsides:
- Usability is a challenge for Aha; its not an enjoyable user experience
- Suffers from “everything and the kitchen sink” feature bloat
Verdict: 4/5; great for app integration and ensuring complete development of projects
A small company founded this product management tool in 2018 in Hamburg, Germany. This is among the newest companies in the industry, but although it shows potential, it still needs more improvement.
Airfocus got off to a decent start in the market, and the firm is already improving from what it has. The feature set of this product management tool focuses on coordination, preparation, and priority setting.
As a result, the user interface is designed to encourage a more systematic approach to these phases of the project.
However, it has a drawback in that it lacks functionality for strategic planning and concept formulation. Given this situation, their customers are urged to use other tools to complete these tasks.
Best Features:
- A clean interface with a minimalist approach
- Offers reasonably competent road mapping and planning features
- Competent prioritization system
- Workable third-party application compatibility and integration
Downsides:
- Lacks strategy and market discovery features
- Does not regulate accounts with system or platform requirements
Verdict: 2.5/5; workable for practice projects and not recommended for complex ventures
Known as the first-ever product management tool, ProdPad was founded by a contributor at MindtheProduct, another major product management platform. Their main office is located in London.
ProdPad has had its moment in the spotlight, and its interface is intuitive and efficient for the most part. It is “opinionated software” however, insofar as it only provides a certain way to do some things such as roadmapping, and that can make it great for some and non-optimal for others. ProdPad seems particularly well-suited for startups, more so than large companies (the opposite from Aha).
Best Features:
- Famous as the first product tool
- A great kanban-style roadmapping tool
- Suport for strategy such as user personas and product vision
- Idea management support
- Support and training is offered
Downsides:
- No timeline-based roadmapping is offered
- Doesn’t come with requirement regulation features
Verdict: 3/5; reliable delivery of complex systems with end-to-end management for smaller companies and start-ups
Some product management tools focus on planning and road mapping, and ProductPlan is among the best and most reliable. It has an easy-to-use interface and powerful features that aid in its creation.
With its early beginning in 2013 at Santa Barbara, the tool works as an idea catalog with robust features and fair usability. Additionally, with minimal product planning functionality, it has the most advantageous features for concept creation, teamwork, proposal exploration, and prototype assessment.
Moreover, it is particularly beneficial for ventures that rely on timelines, thus requiring progress tracking.
Best Features:
- A great road mapping and planning tool
- Useful timeline-based system for team collaboration
- Comes with an idea catalog and rating system for brainstorming
- Offers a convenient user experience and overall usability
Downsides:
- Lacks any strategic and analytical features
- Doesn’t offer market discovery and idea management
Verdict: 3.5/5; workable for smaller projects with start-ups and small businesses
The last one on our list of top product management tools, Roadmunk, is similar to ProductPlan. However, more recently it also has prioritization tools to help product managers keep track of their tasks.
This tool, which first debuted in Toronto in 2012, was marketed solely as a road-mapping application. Now, it focuses on more sectors that need improvement and tailors their network to local businesses and innovative teams.
Roadmunk was created for small businesses that need a standardized approach to planning, conceptualizing, and assessing their product strategy. This app’s best features are its visually appealing planning mode, which is strongly sought after by most creatives.
Best Features:
- Simple to use and intuitive interface for beginners
- Designed for product managers and patterned for smaller projects
- Powerful, with improved prioritization features
Downsides:
- No requirement management and aspect strategy features are available
- Accounts lack a lot of essential features
- Poor compatibility and few application integrations
Verdict: 2.5/5; needs work, can be a platform to try out for practice projects
Conclusion
These are just some of the top product management tools available nowadays. Because each one has its own strong and weak points, it would be best to find the most suitable tool for your needs. You can do this by comparing each tool’s features and determining which will meet your needs as a business.
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The purpose of organization is to establish formal system of roles that team members can follow so that they work together to achieve the enterprise objectives.
This function follows planning according to management gurus.
It is the arrangement of human, physical and financial resources, for the right amount of time in order to achieve desired results per the project plan.The role of Project managers cannot be undermined in in organizing and structuring a project.
According to Chester Barnard, “Organizing is a function by which the concern is able to define the role positions, the jobs related and the co-ordination between authority and responsibility.
Hence, a Project Manager must be able to achieve effective integration of all resources and functions by considering the interests of the client, project team members, functional managers, support personnel, and other external stakeholders.The design of individual jobs within the organization is part of Organizing.
There are enterprises choose to organize their projects by departments, with separate projects and project teams for sales, IT, operations, marketing, customer support, etc.
