My PM Toolbox
There is something you need to know about me. I am addicted. To tools. Sure as a product manager in a digital product, I should love digital products — but it is more than that. I try out everything that could make my life a little better, more efficient or more pleasant. In this article I will show you my go to PM tools.
OmniFocus
There couldn’t be anything worse for me than not having an overview of my to dos and goals. That is why I love GTD (Getting Things Done). I used Todoist and Microsoft To Do before, but I still missed some features to get a good overview. OmniFocus is different. The app provides me with everything I need to keep a good overview. The best thing for me: I can look at my to dos per project and per action list (focus, waiting, agenda etc.). Maybe that is because the app is created especially for the GTD system. 😉
I need to point out here that it costs money. Usually I am trying to get the best out of free apps but at least for me the money is well spent.
Braintoss
Do you know this situation: you are on a walk or grocery shopping and suddenly you have an important thought. Maybe you remember something you forgot or you have an idea, but nothing to note down. I know those situations well. Braintoss helps me to not forget about it and get the idea out of my head. The mobile app has a really basic but brilliant functionality: you can write down a note, take a photo or record an audio and send it directly to your e-mail address.
Slack
Working with colleagues from all over the world in a remote set-up needs a proper chat system. For staying in touch, doing digital stand-ups, sharing information, keeping stakeholders up to date and also for doing coffee breaks with your peers. At XING we are using Slack for that. And overall at least I can say that I am a fan — although there are some hiccup from time to time.
Miro
I worked with remote colleagues before Covid-19 happened. But the pandemic brought our remote set-up to the next level. One of the tools I love to use more often now is Miro. It really makes life easier and more fun when it comes to visualisation and using frameworks. Whenever I do an Auftragsklärung or a User Story Map I use Miro for this. This has several advantages for me: I don’t need to use post it’s anymore (the trees will thank me 🌳), I can share the link directly so that the team sees the current state at any time and I can embed it in other pages for example a Confluence page.
User Story Map
As a PM I like to be transparent and include the team as fast as possible into the ideation phase of a feature. For that I find the User Story Map very helpful. It shows the expected functionality of the planned iterations. I like to have a look at it with the team (on Miro of course 😉) and discuss what is feasible for a specific iteration and what not. Another advantage is that you already have the content for Epics, User Stories and Acceptance Criteria in place when you start to create tickets.
Confluence
I know Confluence has it disadvantages like the search — you need to know where to find the information you are searching for or otherwise: have fun. 😉 But it is the place for our internal and external team information. On top of that I use it for my personal work notes. So I have everything in one place.
Notion
I like to read and I tried different ways of having the important learnings within reach. I used notebooks and index cards, but I never touched those books and cards ever again. Currently I write down my key take aways in Notion. I have to say I use Notion for several other things on daily basis. That is why I see the book notes every day. If I have the feeling that I forgot about a valuable information I can always get to it within one click. But Notion can do much more, for example databases, workflows, wikis and calendars. I use it a lot for personal notes, but I have the impression that it is also a great tool for collaboration and teams.
Overcast
I love to listen to podcasts. It is a source of knowledge and information to me. But often you need some time to do that. Podcast is not the fastest medium — usually. Overcast is a mobile app where you can listen to a podcast in less time — thanks to eliminating speech pauses and faster playback. I love it!
This article is part of the series “My PM Toolbox”. In this series we here at XING and externally share our most loved tools which helps us in our daily work as product managers.
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We are giving away 3 tickets to the UX and Product Conference on 4th February 2021. For a chance to win, simply write an email to svenja.lau@xing.com telling us what kind of article you’d like to read. The competition ends on 3.2.2021 and winners will be chosen at random.
