New type of software for product managers
Every day there are more and more product companies. Today, teams from different areas and industries everywhere use tools to collect and store ideas and feedback, assign tasks to sprints, prioritize, plan and monitor development, as well as internal interaction and communication between departments.
Often, a single platform for managing projects and products is not enough. The most common picture is when developers work with Jira, and product managers, marketers, sales, support, and other teams use features like Trello, Basecamp, or Asana. It seems that the time has come for services created specifically for product managers.
In this situation, when the team uses several intrumetnas, product managers have to be torn to keep track of everyone, and employees are often confused in services. This can slow down the process. Hence, a very urgent and urgent need for a modern product company is the introduction of a universal system for product management. In this article we will tell you about a new kind of software for managing products that is becoming more popular day by day.
However, we first assess the needs for such functionality and services and begin with the role of the product manager in the company.
A dozen years ago, the role and importance of the product manager’s profession did not pay enough attention, they often confused the product manager and project manager’s functionality and probably didn’t suspect that the profession would become one of the most sought-after and highly paid ones today. This is evidenced not only by the experience of successful large corporations, but also by statistics .
If you do not go deep into the functionality (you can read about this in detail in the article about product skills ), then you can highlight the main areas of interest:
One of the studies conducted in 2017 was devoted to the analysis of the state of the product manager profession, the functionality and working tools of managers.
More than 300 B2B product managers were surveyed. As a result, it became known that:
The study also identified the most common applications used by B2B product managers to document and support their product roadmap:
An even more global part of the study showed that specialized services specifically for product management used:
The growing attention to the issue and the need to use tools for product management have become apparent. The time has come to the emergence of specialized software for product management.
According to the same study in 2017, product managers most often used special services to manage products for:
What products did product managers around the world use to implement their plans and strategies?
More than 200,000 product managers around the world today develop their strategies and create visual roadmaps in minutes from Aha .
We can say that Aha was the first full-fledged software for managing products. Today it is a universal “combine”, which has everything you need for the PM functional:
Product managers and business owners use ProdPad to collect and prioritize ideas into a clear, structured and accessible product roadmap. This is a prime example of a new software for collecting, prioritizing and distributing ideas by release.
In fact, the service is very similar to Aha.io, but offers fewer features. Among the main functionality, we note:
Productboard helps product teams to work efficiently and quickly and efficiently to bring products to the market. Today more than 1400 modern, client-oriented companies use the series.
This software is mainly for b2b saas projects, for collecting insights, mapping them into features, prioritizing and distributing features to releases. The service has:
Hygger.io is, above all, a project management system. The service supports Kanban and Scrum processes. But the main feature of the system is in prioritization. Hygger supports such prioritization methods as:
Also in the service you can find simple and convenient Roadmaps.
In the near future, Hygger expects:
The main conclusion that is asked after studying such universal services for managing a new type is the following: if your company has programmers sitting in Jira and product managers, marketers, sales and other team members huddle in Asana or Basecamp, then obviously you should take a closer look at A new kind of software for managing products. For example, Hygger will help you achieve steep prioritization, improve the roadmap, and so on.
The growth of the product manager profession indicates the need for such tools and services. It seems they have every reason to win new fans and active users in the future.
Often, a single platform for managing projects and products is not enough. The most common picture is when developers work with Jira, and product managers, marketers, sales, support, and other teams use features like Trello, Basecamp, or Asana. It seems that the time has come for services created specifically for product managers.
In this situation, when the team uses several intrumetnas, product managers have to be torn to keep track of everyone, and employees are often confused in services. This can slow down the process. Hence, a very urgent and urgent need for a modern product company is the introduction of a universal system for product management. In this article we will tell you about a new kind of software for managing products that is becoming more popular day by day.
However, we first assess the needs for such functionality and services and begin with the role of the product manager in the company.
The role of the product manager in the success of the team and company
A dozen years ago, the role and importance of the product manager’s profession did not pay enough attention, they often confused the product manager and project manager’s functionality and probably didn’t suspect that the profession would become one of the most sought-after and highly paid ones today. This is evidenced not only by the experience of successful large corporations, but also by statistics .
What does a product manager do?
If you do not go deep into the functionality (you can read about this in detail in the article about product skills ), then you can highlight the main areas of interest:
- Building of a product (market analysis, building strategies and positioning, competitor analysis and the establishment of a roadmap of the product (roadmap).
- Numerous interviews with users, surveys and questionnaires, "field" research.
- Prioritization of ideas, tasks and features.
- Prototyping and testing of hypotheses, product analytics.
- Monetization (product economy modeling, business model calculation, building a funnel, audience segmentation and pricing, choosing a monetization model and working with it).
- Communication with glass holders and the team
- Budgeting
One of the studies conducted in 2017 was devoted to the analysis of the state of the product manager profession, the functionality and working tools of managers.
More than 300 B2B product managers were surveyed. As a result, it became known that:
- 94% prefer open source business programs and applications (Excel, PowerPoint)
- 69% use Agile-oriented project management services (Jira, Pivotal Tracker)
- 47% prefer Wireframing applications (Axure, Balsamiq)
- 46% work with multi-purpose services for projects (Trello, Basecamp)
The study also identified the most common applications used by B2B product managers to document and support their product roadmap:
- 26% use services with tables
- 23% - services for presentations
- 15% - Agile-oriented PM tools
An even more global part of the study showed that specialized services specifically for product management used:
- In 2014, only 13% of product managers in B2B
- In 2017 - already 30%
The growing attention to the issue and the need to use tools for product management have become apparent. The time has come to the emergence of specialized software for product management.
New kind of software for product management
According to the same study in 2017, product managers most often used special services to manage products for:
- Creating and managing a roadmap - 72%
- Collection and systematization of ideas - 55%
- Prioritize features - 41%
- Roadmap sharing - 34%
- Interaction with the team (marketers, sales, support, etc.) - 23%
What products did product managers around the world use to implement their plans and strategies?
Top 4 popular services for product management
Aha
More than 200,000 product managers around the world today develop their strategies and create visual roadmaps in minutes from Aha .
We can say that Aha was the first full-fledged software for managing products. Today it is a universal “combine”, which has everything you need for the PM functional:
- working with strategy: vision, business model canvas, SWOT, lean canvas, and so on
- roadmap view release planning
- client portal for collecting ideas from customers
- prioritization of ideas on the matrix Value / E efforts
- scoring features
- prototyping functionality
- various types of product roadmap
- wiki
- notebooks
- report designer
- and many useful features.
Prodpad
Product managers and business owners use ProdPad to collect and prioritize ideas into a clear, structured and accessible product roadmap. This is a prime example of a new software for collecting, prioritizing and distributing ideas by release.
In fact, the service is very similar to Aha.io, but offers fewer features. Among the main functionality, we note:
- client portal
- catalog of ideas
- prioritization by Value / Effort (no scoring features)
- very peculiar roadmap (column-based)
ProductBoard
Productboard helps product teams to work efficiently and quickly and efficiently to bring products to the market. Today more than 1400 modern, client-oriented companies use the series.
This software is mainly for b2b saas projects, for collecting insights, mapping them into features, prioritizing and distributing features to releases. The service has:
- Intercom and Zendesk Integration
- Plugin for chrome to save any text to insights
- Scoring features
- Strategic drivers, initiatives for prioritization assistance.
- Client portal for collecting ideas from customers
- Value / efforts prioritization
- Release planning and roadmaps
Hygger
Hygger.io is, above all, a project management system. The service supports Kanban and Scrum processes. But the main feature of the system is in prioritization. Hygger supports such prioritization methods as:
- 2x2 prioritization matrix, which allows to evaluate ideas / features and simple tasks by Value / Efforts, Value / Risk or Urgency / Importance (Eisenhower Matrix).
- Ice scoring
- Ration scoring
- Weighted scoring
Also in the service you can find simple and convenient Roadmaps.
In the near future, Hygger expects:
- iteration planning
- strategic drivers
- Intercom and Jira integration.
The main conclusion that is asked after studying such universal services for managing a new type is the following: if your company has programmers sitting in Jira and product managers, marketers, sales and other team members huddle in Asana or Basecamp, then obviously you should take a closer look at A new kind of software for managing products. For example, Hygger will help you achieve steep prioritization, improve the roadmap, and so on.
The growth of the product manager profession indicates the need for such tools and services. It seems they have every reason to win new fans and active users in the future.