Product Management Software

Product management tools, in a nutshell, are software applications that organize, streamline, and expedite the development of software programs. They can be likened to project management tools in their conceptual orientation – but their function is specifically tailored to the entire lifecycle of the software development and feedback process.

Many software development tools come incorporated in several industry-leading examples of product management software – making for end-to-end workflow strategy and execution solutions.

At present, there is an overwhelming deluge of popular project management tools for software development in the online marketplace. Sifting through these options can be a major challenge for even the most field-experienced product development teams.

Through this buyer’s guide, we aim to dispel a major chunk of this confusion by providing our actionable take/criteria on choosing the best product management software for your organizational needs and budget; covering such concerns as:

What is Product Management Software?

We’ve already covered the basics of ‘Product Management Software 101’ above. In further understanding the said task management tool category, it is helpful to take stock of such project management frameworks as the Agile Methodology (among others) that inform the important design elements of these tools.

These orientations, simply put, allow developers to both envision and concretely ‘construct’ their charged software applications in record time, incorporating management and customer feedback into the mix (in an attempt to render the required product specifications). They facilitate this end through the provision of powerful product roadmap functions, where multiple teams can work simultaneously toward fulfilling a common product vision goal.

Why would a development team need a dedicated product management tool?

Software development in the growing years of the 21st century is a ruthless and heavily contested endeavor. The product teams engaged in this necessary function can hardly bode well by working on programming language interfaces alone. What they need is a powerful management apparatus that organizes the best, creative ideas of developers concretized through systematic processes that deliver.

Other than this broad concern, there’s a granular need for product managers tasked with the success of development ventures to:

• Devise product strategy (entailing the workings of the entire product life-cycle)
• Incorporate user feedback/user behavior understandings at every developmental turn (a vital harbinger of customer satisfaction; often mediated through customer survey tools integrated into the best product management tools)
• Ensure team unification/same-page working (by way of collaboration tool/file-sharing features linked to PM suites)
• Monitor diagnostics/actionable insights (to facilitate success reporting against set benchmarks)
• Remain within their allocated budget frames (an expense-tracking function)

Product management tools are narrowly suited for these tasks, so it doesn’t make much practical sense for development teams to proceed with their regular workflows without them.

Common Features of Product Management Tools

In general, no two product management tools are singularly alike. In the least instance, they all come with their visual differences; which can have a consequential impact on users’ learning curve concerns.

Some common, essential features that come included in most product management platform systems are:

The same product management tools can also vary in use on different operating systems.

Some notable user-tracking and product development process monitoring applications that often come tethered to the best product management tools include:

• Google Analytics (for staple web analytics appraisals post-product-deployment)
• Clicky
• Hotjar
• Mixpanel

Picking the Best Product Management Software for your Workflow

To pick the right product management software for your development workflow, we’ve devised a simple, five-point, criteria framework that lets you – numerically – weigh each chosen tool on its merits.

Simply put, the product management platform with the most ‘ticks’ wins the contest: our recommendation for you to proceed further toward a formal subscription.

The analysis rubric goes like this:

If you come up with a tie between your shortlisted product management tool options, don’t worry.

Just go to these platform’s dedicated Software Finder profile pages by entering and firing up their names – individually – in our website search field (also on top of this page: product managers should note).

Once on a given software page, you want to read through the entire, always up-to-date, intel given for the tool. Also, you’re strongly pushed to watch the free demo screening and obtain the platform’s updated pricing info.

In case you need quick, 5-min, and cost-free help in selecting the best product management tool for your business, don’t hesitate to give us a call (see the phone number on page-top).

Typical Pricing Range for Product Management Software

Product managers need to understandably weigh the pricing figures of considered software tools against their company budget allocations before signing up.

As a prospective project management tool user, you can expect to pay in the following range for any of your software options (with the first/lower scale figure corresponding to tools with the least feature offerings, and so on):

You can always check out the free tool options (some with free trial runs) available if spending currency is not an option.

To get accurate, custom, plan pricing details and recommendations based on your exact company size and requirements, check out our Project Management Software Pricing Guide for 2023.

Our Top 5 Picks!

Here, we’ve listed our top product management team software picks that should be on the radar of every product manager. These choices come backed by the reviews of both our internal software appraisers as well users actively engaged in software (and other) development pursuits.

Detailing in no order of preference:

• Asana
• Jira
• Monday
• ClickUp
• Aha!

Let’s explore each of these briefly.

Asana Software

Asana is a powerful project management interface designed to help product managers stay organized and on track. With the subscription, users can easily streamline tasks, projects, and coworkers with one-touch simplicity. Asana also offers features such as AI-based prediction tools to help make better decisions, collaborative intelligence for enterprise customers, and work intelligence tools to improve productivity.

Pricing

• Basic: Free Plan
• Premium: $10.99/user/month
• Business: $24.99/user/month
• Enterprise: Custom

Key Features

Asana's powerful project management features for product managers include:

• Work Tracking & Project Management: Asana has features built for your projects, workflows, goals, and team. You can get a real-time overview of how busy product teams really are across projects, allowing you to adjust assignments and tasks as needed.
• Communication: With the tool, you can easily communicate with your team by creating conversations around tasks or projects. This helps keep everyone executively consistent and ensures that nothing falls through the cracks.
• Views: Asana offers several different views so you can quickly find what you need without having to search through multiple menus or tabs. You can also customize your view to show only the most important information for each task or project; without having to deal with loops of complex processes to get the required scoop.

Pros/Cons

Dashboard View

Jira Software

Atlassian, an Australian software company, has developed Jira, a robust project management software. Jira enables product teams to manage projects, track issues, and automate workflows to optimize business operations. The platform, further, fosters improved collaboration from the initial concept to the end customer. With a suite of agile work management solutions, Jira assists managers in achieving their best performance.

Pricing

• Cloud Free – $0/user/month
• Cloud Standard –  $7.43/user/month
• Cloud Premium –  $12.48/user/month
• Cloud Enterprise – Custom pricing
• Data Center – $44,000/year for a minimum of 500 users

Key Features

The product management tool’s top three development-oriented features include:

• Agile Project Management: Jira provides an intuitive platform for agile project management. It includes customizable Scrum and Kanban boards, which allow teams to easily visualize their progress and prioritize tasks. Additionally, it has built-in reports and dashboards to help teams track progress and make informed decisions quickly.
• Visual Planning, Tracking, & Releasing: The platform's visual planning tools make it easy to plan out projects in detail and clear product backlog. Teams can use its timeline view to create Gantt charts that show the progress of each task in real-time. This makes it easier to identify potential issues early on so they can be addressed quickly. Additionally, its tracking capabilities allow teams to monitor progress throughout the entire project lifecycle – a great help for product managers.
• Business Project & Work Management: Jira Software provides a comprehensive suite of tools for managing business projects and workflows. It includes customizable templates that can be tailored to fit any organization's needs, as well as rich APIs for integrating with other applications or services. Additionally, it offers anonymous access so users can collaborate securely without compromising data security or privacy.

Pros/Cons

Dashboard View

monday.com Software

monday.com Software pretty much checks all – or, at least, most – the workflow planning/execution boxes for practically every industry vertical, including product development. The platform’s user interface, for one, coupled with extreme ‘performing power’, makes it a force to reckon with in just about any workspace.

Pricing

• Free (starter-friendly)
• Basic: $8/seat/month
• Standard: $10/seat/month
• Pro: $16/seat/month
• Enterprise: Custom

Features

Monday.com product management software comes with an enviable range of workflow streamlining perks including – 

• Uniform Projects/Tasks Management (enables product managers to oversee workflows/resource management from one dashboard view; complete with file-sharing, time-tracking, and product roadmap tracking) 
• Client Collaborations (ensure that team workers and project workflows are all aligned with changing client expectations – a vital service function designed to empower product teams)  
• Worker/Client Requests Management (allows a product manager to receive and resolve team/client requisitions in record time!)

Pros/Cons

Dashboard View

ClickUp Software

For a project manager engaged in product development, ClickUp is probably one of the best options for organizing a firm’s document management, time-tracking, resource, and workflow-related concerns in one place.

Pricing

1. Free Plan (for beginners)
2. Unlimited: $5/month
3. Business: $12/month
4. Business Plus: $19/month
5. Enterprise: Custom

Features

This web-/cloud-based SaaS powerhouse provides:

• Customizable templates for digital products development (with editable fields/project templates for budget, dollars spent, remaining budget, and more)
• State-of-the-art Gantt Charts (allow product teams to track time and monitor their project progress with a bird’s eye view of each process; ensure executions against product roadmaps)
• Task management functions (equipped with automatic data population and real-time updates; enable product management departments to create quick to-do lists)

Pros/Cons

Dashboard View

Aha Software

Aha! makes for a lightweight, cloud-based, project management software offer for product development enterprises. It continues to rank well in ‘best in class’ PM tool lists on various review platforms – including this one.

Pricing

• Premium: $59/user/month
• Enterprise: $99/user/month
• Enterprise+: $149/user/month

Features

Aha! Project management software features suited for product managers include –

• Start-to-Finish Project Tracking (allows senior PMs to monitor their complete firm workflows and budget spending; for addressing any weak links)
• Real-Time Team/Stakeholder Collaboration (to address team and client feedback/reviews instantly – with integration support for different tools)
• Powerful Reporting (for constant product KPIs/metrics monitoring)

Pros/Cons

Dashboard View

Final Takeaway

As a busy product managers, we know that sifting through all the software options available in the online marketplace can be endlessly challenging and confusing.

Just get in touch with our friendly helpline executives for quick, free, and painless product management software recommendations for your practice at (661) 384-7070.

We’ll take care of everything – get you subscribed to your perfect software fit in no time