Awesome Product Manager Stack and Resources in 2020
There are so many tools today for Product Management unlike in the past when most of the tools for Product Management were not built with Product Managers in mind. Most of those tools were built for general management purposes
As a Product Manager, your ability to use the right tools and resources is very important and can affect the products you build to a large extent.
In this article, I’m going to share a list of frequently used Product Management tools and resources that will help you in your journey as a Product Manager, whether you’re new to Product Management or you are a seasoned Product Manager, you should not be missing out on or lacking the proper tools and resources.
I have listed all the tools that I use from the research phase up till the product launch, sit back, and have great reading time.
Product Strategy and Road-mapping
This is like the first and next step after the product ideation. Sketch out the big picture, communicate plans with stakeholders, and ensure your roadmap connects to your team’s work — all in a few clicks in Jira Software Cloud. Confluence also has up to 77 templates to help you document all road mapping and strategy in one place. Notice that I have mentioned Jira Software Cloud first. This is because, aside from the fact that Atlassian products are the best when it comes to Product and Project Management, almost all other similar products can be integrated into it. So it’s like when you have it, you have everything else. The good news is it has a free version so get started already. Aha! is another great platform for product strategy and road-mapping
User, Market Research, and Analytics
One of the most important and first things you want to do when building a product is to conduct planned research to understand your users. Enjoy serves as a repository that Centralizes all your research data, improves collaboration, standardizes your research process, and shares insights easily. For Survey, I highly recommend Type Form and Survey Monkey, and Video Ask for video-based surveys. I recommend Google Forms if you have a zero budget for your survey. There are so many analytics tools out there for PMs such as Semrush for market research, Google Analytics, Active Campaign, etc
For deeper research and analysis, you’ll love tools like Hotjar.,
Design Sprints
A design sprint is a time-constrained, five-phase process that uses design thinking with the aim of reducing the risk when bringing a new product, service, or feature to the market. The process aims to help teams clearly define goals, validate assumptions, and decide on a product roadmap before starting development. To run design sprints digitally, Miro or Figjam are here for you.
Flowcharting and Diagramming
Gliffy is one of the best software for flowcharting and diagrams. The good news is that you can use it inside Confluence and Jira. You can also check the to get started check https://www.gliffy.com/products/gliffy-atlassian-apps. Draw.io and Figjam are other great tools for diagramming.
WireFraming and Sketching:
Tracking
Jira from Atlassian has proven to be the best tracking tool out there. In my opinion, starting from issue tracking to time tracking, no matter the tracking you want to do, Jira got you always. Trello is another great tracking tool and it's great that these two products come from one place, Atlassian.
Presentations
In product management, you do find yourself doing presentations. Presentations are also effective and visual training to cross-functional teams(for example; sales) and pitches to potential customers. Stakeholders and investors need to hear from you about your product vision. My favorites are Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides, and Apple Keynote.
Communication
In Product Management, team members can’t deliver well without proper communication. Jira and Confluence from Atlassian were built mainly for project management/tracking and documentation originally, but also have been good communication tools and you can always integrate them with other tools like Slack which is one of the best communication tools for agile teams.
Documentation
This is one of the most important things a product manager does. Documentation and documentation control can not be overemphasized in an ideal product structure. Some of the important documents a product manager should make and manage are product requirement documents (PRD), which I rate as the most important. Ideally, development is not supposed to start until a well-fleshed-out PRD is made because this contains all the information, research, UI/UX flows, and requirements of the product. With the PRD ready, the problem is half solved. Confluence from Atlassian happens to be one of the best documentation tools and has templates for almost any other document you might want to keep.
Other Resources and Platforms
Whether you are just starting out in Product Management or you have been practicing for a long time, it’s very important and helpful you get all the help you can. This cannot be done alone, connecting with others especially those ahead in the journey is very vital. Check these platforms to help you get started;
Product Plan is one of the platforms and communities that will help you as Product Managers not just for beginners. Members get benefits like free webinars, connections with great minds, and many more. Join Product Plan
Product School is one of the best Product schools online now. They go from beginner to advanced level. They also have free courses and give access to online Product webinars and conferences. It’s also a great platform to gain mentorship and product resources.
Udacity has proven to be one of the best Tech online schools. With their popular Nano Degrees Programs where they train people in different tech areas, they launched their product school recently. So yeah, you can enroll in Product Management Nano degrees now.
Product Dive is a Product School based in Nigeria, if you reside in Lagos, Nigeria, and are looking for a physical product school, this is a good option for you.
Utiva is an online school that has a class for Product management. If you’re looking for a professional and affordable online product school, check them out.
Thanks for reading this article and feel free to email me at gloriaojuks@gmail.com if I missed your favorite Product Management tool, I will gladly add it to this list. Don’t forget to clap and leave your thoughts if you found this article helpful.
