Best Product Management Software in 2023

Launching a new product is a daunting task. It would be helpful to have a tool that helps you set up the product roadmaps, design prototypes, share action plans with stakeholders, review user behaviour and delight your customers. Adding product management software to your repertoire helps your team deliver top-notch products regularly.

What Are Product Management Tools?

Product management tool are software that are used to help manage product development. This can include product roadmap creation and management, requirements gathering, collaboration tools for cross-functional teams, and tools for tracking product performance and customer feedback.

The software is designed to help product managers and other team members streamline the product development process, improve communication, and make data-driven decisions.

What Are Product Management Tools And Techniques?

Product management tools and techniques are methods and tools used by product managers to plan, develop, and market products effectively. Some common tools and techniques used in product management include:

• Market and customer research: To understand customer needs, market trends, and competitive landscape, product managers use tools such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, and market analysis reports.
• Product roadmaps: Product managers use roadmaps to plan and communicate the vision and strategy for a product. A product roadmap outlines the key milestones and deliverables for a product and shows how they align with the overall goals of the company.
• Product backlog: A product backlog is a prioritized list of features or enhancements that a product team plans to work on. It is used to track and organize ideas, requirements, and tasks for a product.
• User stories: User stories are a technique used to describe a feature or functionality from the perspective of the end user. They help product managers understand the user's needs and goals and can be used to guide the development of the product.
• A/B testing: A/B testing is a method used to compare two versions of a product to see which one performs better. It can be used to test different designs, features, or pricing options and help product managers make data-driven decisions about a product.
• Product KPI: Product managers use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of a product. Examples of KPIs include customer satisfaction, retention, usage, revenue and more.
• Project Management: Product managers use various project management tools such as Trello, Asana, Jira or Monday.com to organize tasks, track progress, and communicate with team members.

Why Use Product Management Software?

Product managers use software to develop and improve products in a quick & efficient manner. It enables the team to work on new ideas, get user feedback, test product performance, improve current products & features and execute plans. Although the product team mainly uses the product management software, it also provides useful insights for sales and marketing teams.

Tools used for product management also help the development team in agile workflows, resource allocations, sprint planning, user testing, managing product portfolio and bug tracking. Moreover, some software offers collaboration features such as comment or chat threads.

Let's look at some more important benefits of product management software.

• Cut through the clutter: Every organisation feels the heat during product development. But, no matter the size or scope of the development team, things can quickly go haywire with one bad decision. Thanks to the product management system, you can avoid clutter and create a more seamless, organised, and transparent product creation process.
• Transparent product development: You can use the best product management tool to track every stage of development with perfection. The robust system creates a transparent work environment that allows all parties to share their inputs or suggestions. Moreover, the software also keeps you focused on the set target and identifies problems that require attention from the developer or any other team.
• Access to consolidated information: The product management tool stores all the information in one place for easy access and helps make detailed reports on various stages of development. So, the entire software product management process can be managed from a single dashboard, whether you are tracking bugs, testing results, getting user feedback, scheduling due dates, presenting reports, or doing any other tasks.

Who Uses Product Management Software?

Product development software helps get multiple teams' collective feedback, including coding, user research, marketing, engineering, testing, and more. Team managers find it beneficial because they can seamlessly organise tasks and assign them to various team members.

They also get to prioritise work to ensure hassle-free product development, check on the progress, and make modifications as per requirement. In addition, team managers and other departments can reap the benefits of using product management software to create & assign work, track progress and create reports for stakeholders.

Product management software helps analyse product performance, collect innovative ideas, get user feedback, execute new plans, and improve software products and their features.

Product managers can prioritise the most important tasks or continuously track their team's progress by leveraging the comprehensive features of the software solution. The software also helps to manage product portfolios, allocate resources, do bug testing, sprint planning, and user testing. Some advanced versions also offer chat or comment features to ensure better collaboration.

Common Features of Product Management Software

There are many key features that make a product management software essential for all organisations.

• Product Road mapping: It helps plan and schedule a product's entire lifecycle. Everything can be done by a product management tool from conception to completion.
• Managing Product Release: Owing to this feature, teams can manage the entire release phase of a product, such as planning, monitoring, launching, and more.
• Managing Requirements: This feature in product management software lets you determine, create, design, and manage all the requirements important for developing a product.
• Prioritising: You can use this feature to prioritise the development of various characteristics and features necessary for a product.
• Collaboration Between Teams: Different departments and functional areas of a company can share information to ensure the smooth development of a product.
• Report Generation: This is one of the most vital features of product management software because it provides accurate reports and analyses of ongoing & finished procedures in a product development lifecycle.
• Approval from stakeholders: Stakeholders and top-level executives can use this feature to approve or suggest necessary product changes.
• User-friendly dashboard: A dashboard is used for hassle-free operation and presents important data & reports to viewers.

Benefits of Using Software For Product Management

Product management software adds a lot of value to the product development lifecycle. Here are some of its key benefits:

1. Reduces the risk of product failure
2. Promotes quick and effective communication between various teams
3. Track every step of product development with ease
4. Store information in one place for quick access
5. Schedule and manage tasks
6. Create a more organised and streamlined product development process
7. Increase your team's productivity
8. Promotes a transparent development process for all parties
9. Allows product managers to track progress, timeframes and costs

Types of Product Management Tools

Here is a list of some Product Management Tools that can help you take your business to greater heights.

• Product Analytics Tools: It is an invaluable tool which gives you detailed insights about the daily visitors to your software or website. In addition, it gives you a thorough analysis of how they engage with your content or product. Examples: Amplitude and Pendo
• Road Mapping Tools: It is a must-have road-mapping software for all product managers. It is specifically built to draft & maintain the product roadmap, like slide decks or spreadsheets that can be easily shared and are far more detailed and flexible. In addition, it can speed up the product planning process and avoid any version control problems. Example: Product Plan
• Survey and Customer Feedback Software: Thanks to the pre-formatted questionnaire in these customer survey tools, you can easily gather information from your target audience. In addition, these tools have the option to ask multiple-choice questions, close-ended or open-ended questions, and give the option to choose from the drop-down list. Similar to emailing facilities, SurveyMonkey & Type Form are easy to use, inexpensive, and highly convenient. Examples: Type Form and SurveyMonkey
• Communication Tools: Imagine having a facility to record a video meeting with a client for future reference. Zoom or GoToMeeting software offers you this wonderful feature that can come in handy while working on an important task. These collaboration tools allow you to join a meeting from anywhere via desktop or mobile phone. Moreover, they have a simple and easy-to-handle user interface. Examples: Zoom and GoToMeeting
• Project Management Software: As a product manager, you always look for new tools to organise work, track tasks, and share info with your team members or departments. Trello lets you group and shares information in the form of easy-to-understand boards. Each board contains a set of lists, and every list contains multiple tasks. The other two popular tools, Jira and Pivotal Tracker help in the trouble-free execution of the product roadmap and allow you to organise the backlog. Examples: Trello, Asana and Jira
• Behaviour Analytics Tools: Every product manager wants to find out about the product experience of their customers, like what benefit they are getting out of it, what the drawback is, etc. Behaviour analytics tools like Hotjar and FullStory help monitor user behaviour and understand what exactly they care about. This valuable insight is helpful for the product data because they get plenty of information to make user-friendly products. Examples: Hotjar and FullStory

How A Product Management Software Can Help Your Team?

A product management software can help a team in several ways:

• Centralized information: Product management software provides a centralized platform for all information related to a product, such as roadmaps, backlogs, customer feedback, and performance data. This makes it easy for team members to access and update information in real-time and stay informed about product development.
• Improved communication and collaboration: The software includes tools for communication and collaboration, such as project management, task tracking, and communication tools, which help different team members work together effectively, regardless of their location.
• Improved performance and transparency: Product management software provides real-time data and analytics, which enables product managers to track progress, measure performance, and identify trends, patterns, and issues in product usage.
• Better customer focus: The software allows product managers to gather and track customer feedback and integrate it into the product development process. This customer-centric approach helps teams create products more likely to meet customers' needs and wants.
• Increased efficiency: Product management software automates many tasks, such as scheduling, prioritization, and resource allocation, which frees up time for team members to focus on more important tasks and better use their time and expertise.
• Better decision-making: With a centralized source of information and real-time analytics, the software allows product managers to make data-driven decisions, such as identifying market opportunities, prioritizing features, and determining the right price point for a product.

How To Choose The Right Product Management Software For Your Organisation?

Key points to keep in mind while choosing product management tools:

1. Evaluate your team's requirements

The best way to find out about the needs of your product management team is to create a list of questions. Then you can use them as reference points to evaluate different functional areas and outline requirements. For example, the list should contain the following questions:

• What is the budget for this product?
• What functionality or features are important for it?
• How will the product impact the organisation's objectives and strategies?
• Are we looking for a tool that could help in development or delivery?
• What type of data do we have?
• How much and what type of data do we want in the future?
• How can we collect customer feedback?

2. Create a well-defined product strategy

Before acquiring a product management tool, the first and foremost thing you should do is define a clear product strategy because, with the direction, it'd be easier to determine the right fit for your organisation. To define a strategy, you should find out about your company's main objectives, product features, and goals.

List out the goals you want to achieve in the next few years and what purpose you want to fulfil with your product. All these questions will help you simplify things and decide which tool to choose.
Search for various product options

The next step on the list is meticulous research on different software options. It'll give you a better understanding of each product's functionalities, features, benefits, and drawbacks. You can check the company's website, read reviews on different platforms, or watch demos. Further, online comparison charts will also help in comparing different options with each other.

3. Look for useful features:

Small companies usually don't need that many functionalities, while on the other hand, large organisations may require a wide range of useful features in a product management tool. Therefore, when you search for software, ensure its features fit your organisation's requirements. Moreover, you can also do a thorough compatibility check with your company's current needs.

• Usability and interface: You don't want to buy a tool that is difficult to understand and complicated to work on. Therefore, you should look for a tool with a simple user interface and no unnecessary features. In addition, you should always buy a product that provides a 'demo' facility and comes with a 'trial' period.
• Allows interaction with users: Ensure that the product management platform comes with an interactive feature so that you can get product feedback. Hence, it would help if you opted for products with white-label or single sign-on features.
• Streamlines the workflow: Product managers need a tool that fulfils their requirements and comes with highly beneficial features to improve efficiency or streamline their work. Sometimes they also rely on 2 or 3 different software platforms to collect user feedback, update announcements, record data, plan road maps or do product analysis. Therefore, you should try to get a tool that meets their objectives, comes with all the best features, and help in completing the tasks within the stipulated duration.
• Product Analytics: Choose a tool with the product analytics feature because it gives you an exact picture of what your customers do with your product and how they use it. It'll help your product managers access the development process, and they'll be able to remove any roadblocks and optimise their performance.
• Integration with current software: Make sure that your selected software should integrate with the existing software. If you are still determining whether your current software can be integrated with the software, you should get in touch with the company or vendor for a solution.
• Reporting: Every department has different reporting requirements; hence you should always verify the available report options in any basic product management software. You can also take help or suggestions from the higher management to pick a product that fulfils a specific purpose.

4. Keep your budget in mind:

Every company has a budget in mind when searching for a product management tool. It becomes more critical when you are a smaller organisation or a start-up. The best product management software might be expensive, and you may also have to pay monthly fees. Hence, it becomes imperative that you never exceed your budget and buys a tool that ticks all the right boxes.

5. Don't hesitate to ask for suggestions:

If you are confused or don't have enough time to do the research, you shouldn't be afraid to ask for suggestions or help from seniors, colleagues, or friends. It is important because one bad decision can cause a lot of repercussions for your team and organisation. Hence, it would be wise to take help from others. Moreover, numerous communities on social media channels can help you out.

Top 10 Best Product Management Tools

Here is the list of best product management software for Business .

Trends Related to Product Management Software

• Agile Approach: It is a time-bound methodology for software development that allows teams to create products flexibly and promptly. This approach creates more room for improvement and allows the implementation of ideas during the design or development phase.
• Value addition to products: There is no use of features if they don't provide any value to the product. Hence the development team's priority nowadays is to generate value. Then, after taking care of the value part, they can add features to benefit the customers.

Challenges with Product Management Software & How to Ensure Smooth Implementation

There are several challenges that organisations may face when implementing product management software. Some of the biggest challenges with product management software tools include:

• Adoption: Getting all team members to use the new software can be challenging, especially if they are resistant to change or need help adjusting to new tools.
• Integration: Integrating the software with existing tools and systems can be difficult and require significant resources and technical expertise. When buying an online product management software, you ensure that it completely integrates with your current software. Reach out to your vendor or their customer support team for any doubts or if the existing software is not supported.
• Data Quality: Ensuring that data entered into the software is accurate and up-to-date can be a challenge, especially if team members need to be properly trained on how to use the software or if there are errors in data entry.
• Scalability: As the number of products and team members grows, the software may need to be scaled up to accommodate the increased workload, which can be challenging. A small company doesn't need that many functionalities, while on the other hand, large organisations require feature-heavy and extensive software. You should always check whether the existing features are compatible with your company's overall requirements.
• Limited Customisation: Some software comes with pre-defined workflows and stages, which may need to align with the specific process of the organisation, thus limiting the tool's full potential.
• Complexity: Some product management software can be complex and require significant training and resources to implement and maintain.
• Cost: Some software can be expensive and requires many resources to operate.
• Security: Storing sensitive product information and data in the cloud can be a concern for some organisations. They need to ensure that the software they choose offers appropriate security measures.

It is important to have a well-defined use case and clear objectives during the selection and implementation of any product management software to mitigate these challenges.

There are several challenges organisations may face as stated above when implementing product management software online, but with proper planning and execution, they can be overcome to ensure a smooth implementation. Some ways to ensure a smooth implementation include:

• Involve key stakeholders early on in the process: Identify key stakeholders and involve them in the decision-making process early on. This will help ensure buy-in and support for the new software.
• Define clear objectives: Clearly define the objectives for the software, such as what processes you want to improve and how the software will help achieve these goals. Having a clear picture of what you want to achieve will help guide the implementation process.
• Create a detailed plan: Develop a detailed plan for the implementation, including timelines, resources required, and key milestones. This will help keep the project on track and meet deadlines.
• Choose the right software: Conduct thorough research to identify the software best fits your organisation's needs and budget. Ensure that the software is easy to use and can be integrated with existing systems.
• Plan for Training: Adequate training for the team members is crucial, ensure they know how to use the software properly and have access to the necessary resources.
• Data migration: Plan to migrate existing data into the new software and ensure that the data is accurate and up-to-date before entering it into the system.
• Track progress: Continuously track the progress of the implementation, and make adjustments as needed.
• Get customer feedback: Set up a process to get customer feedback and consider it when making decisions.
• Continuously Improve: Monitor and improve the software to remain relevant and effective over time.

By following these best practices, organisations can mitigate the potential challenges and ensure a smooth implementation of product management software.