23 August, 2022
What tools are usually used by a product manager?
Karthik Kamalakannan / 23 August, 2022
Product managers are mini-CEOs in many ways. They are directly responsible for a product's success since most of the decisions goes through them. Be it a new feature that customers are asking for via feedback portal or some critical bug that popped up in the middle of the night, product managers handle it.
To get things done, product managers who run SaaS products of any size trust their toolset. Just like how a weapon is important for a warrior, product management tools are crucial for the success of a product manager.
If you are new product manager looking for some inspiration from fellow product managers, these are the tools many trust to get work done — successfully.
To make things easier, I've categorized the tools product managers use under these categories:
- Emails — Spark
- Online meetings — Zoom/Hangouts
- Customer feedback — Hellonext
- Product management — Linear
- Product analytics — Posthog
Tools product managers use everyday
Spark for email
Spark is one of the most popular email client that comes with a free plan for 99% of its features. With power-user features like send later, reminders for emails, comments for emails, and other collaborative features that helps working with teams 10x easier.
As of 2022, Spark is available on macOS, iOS and Android.
What product managers use Spark for
- Email inbox management
- Customer support
- Internal email collaboration
Zoom for online meetings
By now, especially after the pandemic, Zoom is one software that cannot be avoided. Being one of the most popular online meeting software in the world, Zoom has also announced new features like Zoom Whiteboards, Zoom Phone and so much more for free.
What product managers use Zoom for
- Internal team huddles
- Product demo meetings with customers
- Daily standup meetings
Hellonext for product feedback
Hellonext is the product feedback tool for SaaS companies. Trusted by over 2000 companies, Hellonext helps you centralize customer feedback in one place, help you build out a powerful roadmap, and publish changelog. Best of all, Hellonext's pricing starts for free.
What product managers use Hellonext for
- Gather user feedback
- Plan and publish product roadmap
- Publish product updates
Linear for task management
Linear has gained good traction since 2020. Linear has been replacing JIRA in a lot of companies, and we at Hellonext use Linear as well.
What product managers use Linear for
- Shared task management
- Plan internal roadmap
- Share project updates within team
Create a Linear account for free ↗
Posthog for product analytics
Posthog is a new entrant in the industry. Posthog helps SaaS companies analyze the feature usage, feature adoption, and even get heatmap of how your product is being used, all with a simple JavaScript integration in your product.
What product managers use Posthog for
- Product usage analytics
- Product heatmap recording
- Setup feature flags
Create a free account on Posthog ↗
How to choose the best toolset for you?
When you are starting out as a product manager, it is important that you choose your toolset. Here are a few quick points that might help you build a framework to build a toolset that works for you.
Product managers' toolset framework
Here are some of the things to consider when choosing a tool that works best for you:
- Is the tool easily accessible?
- Does the tool integrate with existing tools being used in your company?
- Is the tool modern and can work for the next 5 years?
- Does the tool work well with good keyboard shortcuts?
- Does the tool cost within your budget?
It is now your turn. I hope these tools work well for you. Most of the tools mentioned above are free. Did you find some other tool that you think is missing? Hit us up on Twitter @hellonexthq.
Last updated: May 1st, 2023 at 12:41:03 PM GMT+0