Product Tech Stack: Know The Tools You’ll Be Working With
Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them. — Steve Jobs
In my last article, I wrote about how overwhelming starting out in a new industry can feel like, especially for people coming from a non-tech background. One thing I also mentioned was the fact that there are lots of learning resources available, the same way we have lots of product management technologies and tools today, and one thing we can all agree on as aspiring PMs is how confusing things can get at the very beginning of our journey to products.
That’s why when friends and acquaintances ask me ‘Florence I want to go into tech, what can I do’. I tell them ‘Google careers in tech and read extensively on these careers, dedicate a day or two to that and then we can talk’. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a ‘know-it-all’ as a matter of fact, I am just winging it like most people haha.
The reason I tell people to read up on these things is not only to be familiar but to ultimately be able to decide on what to do. When I say ‘read extensively’ I wanted them to read up on the tools/stacks used in these careers because for a short or long period of time, however long they decide to be in that career, that’s what they’d be using to get their work done.
Product Stack
Now when we talk about tools in product management, we are talking about the technologies and resources used by product managers to carry out their task of delivering a product to the market — some of these tasks include task management, user survey, documentation, roadmapping, wireframing etc. These tools together are called Product Stack.
Another essential thing that’ll help ensure the success of a product is picking the ‘right product stack’.
So what are some of the tools aspiring product managers should get familiar with ? We’d break them down into categories to help classify what aspect each falls into.
- Roadmapping: They help communicate project goals and strategies to team members and stakeholders. They outline direction, priorities and progress of a product over time. Some roadmapping tools include: ProductPlan (ProductPlan), craft.io, roadmunk.com, Airfocus, Aha!
- Task Management: They are used to assign tasks, track tasks progress, collaborate and communicate. Some examples are Asana, JiRa, ClickUp, Trello.
- User Research/Survey: They help you gather useful and quantitative feedback from your users. Some examples are SurveyMonkey, Typeform, Google forms, Microsoft forms, Formstack.
- Wireframing & Prototyping: These tools help to visualize and communicate your ideas to your team members. Examples are Figma, Balsamiq, Adobe XD, Whimsical.
- Brainstorming and Flowcharting: Miro, Whimsical, Requstory are great tools used for team collaboration and brainstorming. They also feature lots of templates for customer journey maps, mind maps, user flow and so on.
- Analytics tools: These tools help you understand how much value your product is delivering to its users. They also help you detect problems, set goals and make informed decisions. Some of these tools include Mixpanel, Pendo, Google analytics, Heap.
- Team Messaging: Tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Confluence are used by cross-functional teams for daily communication.
- Documentation: Coda, Notion, Google docs, and Confluence are handy tools when it comes to outlining your product strategy, product specification, FAQs, etc.
- Presentation/Pitching: These tools are used to create amazing slides that help you communicate your business ideas to stakeholders and investors. Some examples are Google slides, PowerPoint presentation and Pitch
While these are not all the PM tools we have out there, they’re a good starting point for aspiring PMs to learn how to use them and add them to their skill set.
Product management is one industry where you’ll pick up multiple hard skills and soft skills while working with a cross-functional team.
Additional Tips
One amazing way to easily grasp how to use some of these tools is incorporating them into your daily activities. I personally use Notion to document my journey into products. I have a page for job application tracking, CVs/Resume & Cover letter, daily tasks, my portfolio(https://bit.ly/FlorencePMPortfolio) and so many more.
I’ll also recommend taking these ProductSchool courses:
- Product Analytics Micro-Certification: This course will help you understand the importance of product analytics and how to use Mixpanel.
- Choosing Your Product Tech Stack: This course will help you understand your tech needs, the importance of choosing the right tools for your products and so on.
And of course check out the amazing Productverse — an interactive visualization of product management tools. I particularly enjoy how fun and interactive this is.
