Top five tools for product management

Product management involves juggling multiple tasks, from gathering user insights and defining product requirements to tracking progress and facilitating collaboration across teams. To manage these responsibilities efficiently, product managers need the right tools in their arsenal. Here is a guide to some essential tools and platforms that can help stay organised, streamline workflows, and enhance collaboration.

Figma – for seamless design collaboration

Figma is a cloud-based design tool that allows teams to collaborate in real-time on UX/UI design projects. It is a great tool to bridge the gap between designers, developers, and stakeholders by offering a single platform for prototyping, wireframing, and gathering feedback. Multiple team members can work on the same design at once, ensuring everyone stays aligned. Product managers can showcase interactive prototypes that allow stakeholders to experience how the final product will work. Moreover, team members and stakeholders can leave comments directly on designs, making it easier to track feedback. This reduces back-and-forth emails and keeps all feedback in one place. 

Notion – for organising product knowledge base

Notion is a versatile all-in-one workspace where you can write, plan, collaborate, and organise everything from product strategy to individual project tasks. It is perfect for creating a single source of truth for the entire product management process, right from brainstorming to post-launch analysis. Notion allows you to create pages for everything from meeting notes to product documentation from an extensive template gallery. You can also create and link databases for user research, feature requests, or product roadmaps. Teams can then view, edit, and comment on shared documents, collaborating in real time. Moreover, it is also a great place to manage your to-do lists and track tasks for product sprints.

ClickUp – for comprehensive project management

ClickUp is a powerful project management tool designed to manage tasks, timelines, and workflows. It is highly customisable, making it a great choice for product managers who need to track multiple teams or product lines while maintaining visibility over each phase of development. You can organise tasks—by due date, priority and assignees—and track their progress using various views like lists, boards, and calendars. ClickUp also allows time estimates and tracking for tasks, helping you manage timelines more effectively. This tool can be used to create detailed product roadmaps, assign tasks, and set deadlines. You can break down projects into subtasks, track each phase of development, and ensure nothing falls through the cracks. 

Slack – for communication and team collaboration 

Slack is the go-to communication tool for teams, making it an essential platform for product managers who need to coordinate efforts across various departments. Whether it is exchanging quick updates, sharing files, or discussing project details, Slack keeps all your conversations organised. It integrates with tools like Jira, Productboard, and Google Drive to bring all your work into one platform and make updates visible within your conversation threads, ensuring everyone is on the same page. It allows you to keep communication flowing across teams as you can set up channels for each product or project, enabling cross-functional collaboration. 

Productboard – for prioritising features and roadmap management

Productboard is a product management tool designed specifically for prioritising features and mapping out your product roadmap based on customer needs. It gathers customer feedback and feature requests and ties them directly to your roadmap, ensuring you are always building the most impactful features. You can rank features based on customer feedback, company strategy, and development efforts to visualise your product roadmap and communicate it to stakeholders. Productboard also integrates with tools like Jira and Slack to keep your team in sync. It is ideal for gathering customer feedback and converting it into actionable insights.